Hush Heath Estate

Hush Heath Estate
Five Oak Lane
Staplehurst
Kent
TN12 0HX

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Where is it?

Hush Heath Estate

Set in the depths of the Kent countryside, Hush Heath Estate is steeped in history, with the manor house dating back to 1503. Richard Balfour-Lynn planted his first vine in Oast House Meadow, in 2002, and the estate now stretches to just under 30 acres under vine.

Under the meticulous gaze of top UK winemaker, Owen Elias, and assistant winemaker, Vicky Ash, the wines produced at Hush Heath, including the breathtaking Balfour Brut Rosé, are unsurprisingly excellent.

The Balfour rosé bathing in iceThe manor house at Hush HeathThe Oast House VineyardTanks in the wineryDisgorging line in the wineryWhat's behind the sign?

Hush Heath Estate Wines

  • Bottle price: £36.80 OUT OF STOCK

A beautiful example of an English rosé, this wine has a wonderful colour to it, with a fine persistent bead of bubbles opening up a nose of gentle yeast and blackcurrant leaf. The ensuing palate begins with a creamy mousse which opens into a light fruitiness. Excellent balance of fruit and acids make this a serious contender for one of the top wines in the country.

With only 1900 bottles produced of this delightfully crisp Chardonnay, created very much in Chablis style helped by the fact that the same soil types underlying this famous region of Burgundy also run through this area of Kent. The wine is an intense pale green straw colour, un-oaked and pure. In the glass it is clear and bright with a pleasing viscosity giving a rich mouth feel. It has an elegant backbone of steely acidity, very pure, lemon rind and green apple notes and slightly saline finish.

From the beautiful surround of the Garden of England, we offer you three of Kent's Hush Heath Estate's wines in one pack. The selection offers the crisp and fresh Skye's English Chardonnay, the fruity and floral Nannette's English Rose, and the belle of the ball, the Balfour Brut Rosé, a diamond in the English sparkling wine parade.

Vineyard

The Hush Heath Estate vineyards total an area of 28.86 acres, and are spread across 5 plots, each growing carefully selected and tried varietals and clones. In the first vineyard, 45% Pinot noir, 45% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Meunier were planted. Pinot Noir for fruit, perfume and colour; Chardonnay for finesse and acidity; and Pinot Meunier for a little added spiciness. This proportion of classic Champagne varieties has been replicated in other plots allowing a consistency of flavours to remain in the wines.

The Wealden clay that make up much of the vineyards' soil type offers excellent water retention in dry years, but can cause drainage problems in wet Winters and Springs. To counteract this the vineyard was meticulously sub-soiled and drainage was put in to avoid clogging up of the old orchard's nutritious soil.

The different plots incorporating Hush Heath's vineyards are all ideally planted to make the most of their aspects and the excellent climatic conditions that exist in the locations. Row width and orientation can have a great impact on the yield an quality of fruit produced. Hush Heath's record of both of these factors have proven that their vineyard sites are perfectly located and trained.

Winery

Hush Heath's state of the art winery was installed in 2010, making use of an otherwise redundant barn on the vineyard's site. The winery comprises 4 tonne Magnum Champagne press and 120,000 litres of beautiful stainless steel in tank form, each tank monogrammed with the Hush Heath Estate logo. This includes a 12,500 litre cold stabilization tank with integral slow stirrer and two 4,000 litre red fermentations tanks from which most of the colour of the Balfour Brut Rosé comes.

For the sparkling production side of operations, an automatic double giropallet was installed at the winery for riddling the Balfour Brut Rosé, as well as an automatic disgorging line complete with 150 hole neck freezer, corker, wirer and shaker. To dress the bottles, a washer-dryer and labelling machine make the Hush Heath Estate winery one of the best equipped in the country.