Taittinger’s foray into England, Domaine Evremond, releases its first wine
Back in 2015 I attended a press conference at Westminster Abbey announcing a launch of a new English sparkling wine estate with significant investment from Champagne Taittinger. Almost 10 years later, the first wine from Domaine Evremond was launched over a lunch at the excellent Cornus. Jamie Goode reports.
Back in 1932 Pierre Taittinger founded the Champagne house that now bears his name. In 1987, Taittinger spread their wings and began a fizz house in another country: they established Domaine Carneros in Napa in conjunction with Korbrand, their importer there. But far more interesting is the venture that today launched its first wine to trade and press: Domaine Evremond.
This is how the story goes. Back in 1983, Patrick McGrath began his career in the wine trade with Victoria Wine. He quickly became a buyer, and then moved on to do similar roles at Grants of St and then Mentzendorff (where he became a director). But he had bigger ambitions, and after passing his Master of Wine exams he formed his own agency, Hatch Mansfield, in conjunction with Pierre-Henri Gagey (Louis Jadot) and Eduardo Chadwick (Errazuriz). It has grown significantly and in 2023 turnover was just shy of £128 m. In 1998 Hatch Mansfield began working with Champagne Taittinger.
In 2013 Patrick was intrigued enough by the English sparkling wine scene that he decided he wanted one in their portfolio, and began conversations with a number of English producers. But Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger had other ideas: let’s do what we did with Korbrand in the USA, he suggested. Patrick was tasked with finding the land, and assisted by English wine expert Stephen Skelton, with specific search criteria (chalk soils, below 100 m altitude, and S or SW facing) they ended up choosing part of the Gaskain farm in Chilham, Kent, west of Canterbury.
The Gaskains were predominantly apple farmers, but they’d diversified to soft fruits and had their fingers burned dealing with the supermarkets, so they put some of their farm on the market to raise some capital. In 2014 the new Taittinger/Hatch Mansfield venture, now called Evremond, purchased land, they announced the partnership to the press in 2015, and then planted the first vines in 2017.
Taittinger are by far the largest shareholder in Evremond, followed some distance behind by Hatch Mansfield. And there’s quite a broad shareholding (the curious can find the full list here courtesy of filings with Companies House here see entry no 5 from April 2023).
Kent is an important viticultural area in the UK. There were 42 vineyards recorded in Kent in the Domesday Book, but changing climates and social upheavals meant that it wasn’t until 1969 that the first commercial vineyard in living memory was planted here: Biddenden, by Joyce Barnes.
Now Kent is home to 120 vineyards and 1400 hectares of vines, and one-quarter of English wine comes from Kent grapes. During the growing season it has the highest number of sunshine hours, and it’s the third driest area in the UK, after Essex and the Isle of Wight. From Taittinger’s point of view it is ideally located, 3.5 hours door to door for their chef de cave Alexandre Ponnavoy and viticulturist Christelle Rinville.
Alexandre says that even though these are ideal conditions by English standards, this isn’t the same as Champagne, by any means. ‘It wasn’t easy at the beginning,’ he says, learning to adapt to the very different growing conditions. ‘It was an enological adventure too.’
The name Evremond is one that has been close to the Taittinger family’s heart.
Charles de Saint-Évremond (1613-1703) was a French poet, soldier, literary critic and bon viveur who liked the good times. He was exiled to the UK by Louis XIV and ended up becoming good friends with Charles who was later to be Charles II. The court of Charles, where Evremond was to end up spending lots of time, was conducted in French, and the sociable Frenchman ended up being quite an ambassador for the wines of Champagne, which at that time would have either been still or only partly fizzy. When he died he was buried at Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey, an honour not previously afforded to foreigners. So Taittinger were keen to use his name for this new project.
The first plantings were 21 hectares of vines that went into the ground in 2017. Then in 2019 more Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were planted. Then in lockdown, in May 2020, they stayed in a Premier Inn and planted another 10 hectares, after buying more land. Now there are 61 hectares planted, and the vineyard is managed by the Gaskains. Surprisingly, there was a small harvest in 2018, and then the first main harvest in 2019. They followed the potential for ageing of these wines, which were vinified and stored in stainless steel. Then, with 2020 as a base, they blended in these reserve wines and bottled Domaine Evremond Edition 1 in June 2020. In August 2024 this was disgorged with a dosage of 7 g/l, and this is the first release. Vinification of the base wine is all in stainless steel: the idea is to make a very reductive wine, rather than to have any oxidative influence on the base wine.
After this first release, Edition 2, based on 2021, will be disgorged in April this year. And there are plans for a rosé and a prestige cuvée Blanc de Blancs in the future. The cellar dug into the ground at the new winery has capacity for 1.5 m bottles, and production is expected to rise to 400 000 bottles annually as the vineyards come on line. This year they hope to bottle 250 000 bottles. Release retail price is £50 per bottle, and they haven’t yet decided on the trade price. Patrick McGrath’s daughter India McGrath is currently the sole full-time employee, and she has been working hard on communications and getting the new visitor centre open for the spring.
Domaine Evremond Edition 1 NV Kent, England
12.5% alcohol. This is fine, linear and delicate with beautifully integrated acidity, and a subtle saline twist to the pure, lemony fruit, together with a hint of cherry. Pure, quite pristine and expressive, this is quite a delicate, refined wine, rather than a powerful one, and it works really well. A great start to this ambitious project. 93/100
