Hambledon Vineyard

Founded in 1952, by Major-General Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones, Hambledon is England’s oldest commercial vineyard, with wines even served to French president Jacques Pompidou during an embassy reception in the 1970s. But it was with the arrival of Ian Kellett in 1999 that the story really began. Ian was already a wine lover, with a successful career in banking under his belt - his interest piqued by the winemaking history of the estate, he studied oenology at Plumpton College, aiming to restore Hambledon to its former glory. He was convinced that sparkling was the future, and in 2005 he planted his first Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier, to test different clones and rootstocks. In 2011, having expanded the plantation with guidance from Hubert de Billy of Pol Roger, he appointed Hervé Jestin, a renowned chef de cave from Champagne, to direct all winemaking. Hambledon has England’s only entirely gravity-fed cellar, which transforms grapes with minimal intervention, grown on the estate’s Newhaven chalk soils - the same soils that are found in Champagne’s Côte des Blancs. With expansion plans on the way, and bolstered by its recent acquisition by a consortium of historic wine families, Hambledon’s future is very bright.