2020 Sugrue Pierre The Trouble with Dreams Brut
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Tasting notes
The 2020 Brut The Trouble with Dreams is a blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir harvested in the Mount Harry site in East Sussex and the Storrington Priory and Coldharbour vineyards in West Sussex. Half the base wines were fermented in used 500-liter barrels of French oak, the rest in stainless steel, all without malolactic conversion. Lemon brightness, offset with gentle creaminess, immediately signals lightness and freshness. More air lends a sense of lemon wafer biscuit. The palate delivers just that: lemony lightness with a sense of what the French would call "aerien." Absolute linearity, brightness and purity are central on this streamlined bright wine. Concentration is there, so is a central energy and a beautiful drive that propels this forward with freshness and elan. Dosage is 6 grams per liter. Disgorged: January 2024.
Critic scores
Average Score
Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir from Storrington Priory and Coldharbour vineyards in West Sussex and Mount Harry vineyard in East Sussex. Part of the wine was fermented in 600-litre ex-burgundy barrels. Dosage 6 g/l. Very fine mousse that persists in the glass and even over two days in an opened bottle. Subtle yeasty notes and a creamy richness allied to bright lemon fruit and a hint of clementine and still a hint of white blossom, both youthful and complex. Even with modest alcohol and high acidity this is mouth-filling yet also attention-grabbing in its refinement. Creamy, mouth-watering and incredibly persistent. Top-of-the-range English fizz. (JH)
60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir. Aged 40 months on lees. Dosage 6 g/l. Tasted blind. Bright, fresh fruit with a crackling sulphidic note. Creamy and complex with sour apple fruit on the palate, with plenty of core fruit persistence. Slight bitterness on the finish. (RH)
Full bottle 1,678 g. 60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir from Storrington Priory and Coldharbour vineyards in West Sussex and Mount Harry vineyard in East Sussex. A good part of the wine was fermented in 600-litre ex-burgundy barrels. Dosage 6 g/l. The grip of this wine, the spectacular tension, the way it goes from flowers to gravel in an instant … it curls your toes. It's both visceral and cerebral. It contours like a blade, a scintilla of steel. Powerful, uncompromising structure. Marble and matcha and membrillo and greengage and lime. And then as it opens in the glass and also over several days, a building of richness and honey on a promise. But back to steel on the high-wired finish. (TC)
About the producer
As English sparkling wine breaks out onto the world’s stage, a few names already come to mind as beacons of quality and know-how. Dermot Sugrue’s eponymous label leads the charge.