Highlights: two from Gutter & Stars, an urban winery in Cambridge, UK
I’ve written here about Gutter & Stars, a lovely small-scale urban winery in the base of a Cambridge windmill. This pair impressed.
Gutter & Stars There Goes the Fear Chardonnay 2023 Essex, England
12.5% alcohol. This is from Crouch Valley fruit. It’s beautifully packaged, as with all of Chris’ wines. This is impressive: it’s a textural wine, with the citrus and ripe pear fruit joined in the mix by a touch of apple, and everything nested delicately in a frame of almond, wood spice and subtle honey and straw. The overall impression is one of complexity and layers, riffing around the theme of ripe English Chardonnay fruit. Just lovely. 93/100
Gutter & Stars Avalon 2023 England
12% alcohol. This blends together Chardonnay from Whitewolf Estate in Kent with Pinot Gris from Bromley Brook in Essex. It has an intriguing nose of ripe pear and apple with some spicy, mineral, wet stone notes. The palate has this lovely combination of ripe pear and peach fruit with some citrus, and then a touch of table grape. It’s properly ripe, and even has some honeyed autumnal notes in the mix, but then finishes with bright acidity. 92/100
