Roebuck Estates
Classic Cuvee
Sussex
2014

The producer

Roebuck Estates Winery is a distinguished vineyard located in the heart of the Sussex countryside, renowned for its exceptional sparkling wines. Established on prime viticultural land, the winery leverages the region's unique microclimate and chalky soils, which are ideal for cultivating premium grape varieties such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. The estate combines traditional winemaking techniques with modern innovations to produce award-winning wines characterized by their elegance, complexity, and balance. Roebuck Estates is committed to sustainability and quality, ensuring that every bottle reflects the meticulous care and craftsmanship invested in its production. Their wines are celebrated for their refined flavours and are a testament to the burgeoning reputation of English sparkling wines on the global stage.

They have six parcels of land which are blessed with a wealth of different soil types and microclimates, and are separated into 70 individual blocks of vines, each with its own clone and rootstock combination best suited to that soil. Using a sophisticated software system called Sectormentor, their team of expert viticulturalists keep a detailed record of how each block is faring so they can be precise in their approach.

The wine

The Classic Cuvée 2014 from Roebuck Estate is a blend of 47% Chardonnay, 38% Pinot Noir, and 15% Pinot Meunier, with grapes handpicked from multiple vineyards across southern England. The fruit underwent whole-bunch pressing before fermenting in both stainless steel and French oak. Aged for 36 months, this English sparkling wine boasts a fresh and elegant profile, complemented by a rich, toasty, and savoury complexity. Its delightful flavours make it an ideal pairing for fish and chips.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.