Made from a blend of 85% Bacchus and 15% Chardonnay, Gardner Street is the historic name of Henners’ home village of Herstmonceux. The old name captures the hand-harvested, artisanal craft of tending vines & wines down English country lanes. A modern marriage of fresh, floral Bacchus with a little barrel-fermented Chardonnay.
Gardner Street Classic has the classic floral, elderflower note we have come to know of contemporary Bacchus married with a touch of stone fruit from the Chardonnay. On the palate there's an abundance of red apple fruit, a touch of wild fennel with the barrel fermented Chardonnay giving mid palate weight and structure to a wine that ultimately finishes with a brisk, present acidity.
Match it with pork tenderloins in cider with a generous helping of mash and buttery veg, a veggie lasagne or a hake in butter sauce with capers.
In 2020 Bacchus was harvested from vineyards across Sussex and Kent, selecting harvest dates when sugars and acidity were in perfect balance. Following a warm, dry summer natural sugar levels were high and the fruit profile in the grapes was exceptional. The parcels were fermented separately to allow the expression of their respective sites to shine through (Wealden Clay vineyards in Sussex and a chalk-based vineyard in Kent). Winemaker Collette O'Leary selected 20% of the fruit to ferment in 5th fill French barrels for texture. The wines did not go through malolactic fermentation in order to retain the aromatic, floral and tropical notes characteristic of English Bacchus. The marriage of the different parcels, along with a small portion of barrel-fermented Chardonnay from the Henners vineyard gives the wine additional texture and palate weight.
The colder climate in England gives Bacchus higher acidity and lower yields than when grown elsewhere. English Bacchus wines often fall somewhere between the typical French and New Zealand styles of Sauvignon Blanc, although there are examples at either end of the spectrum.
Collette studied Viticulture & Oenology at the UK’s prestigious Plumpton College and then worked in wineries in New Zealand, California and South Africa to hone her winemaking skills. When she joined Henners, Collette could immediately see the potential in Sussex for growing extraordinary winemaking grapes, particularly where the Henners hectares are nestled in the South Downs.
Sussex has a warm climate and soil types similar to Champagne. Champagne lies on the 49th parallel north while the Sussex Weald lies on the 51st parallel north. Sussex has many south-facing slopes, which are suitable for growing the grape varieties found in sparkling wine, such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.
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