It would have been distinctly odd if Steven Spurrier hadn’t included his best ever Bride Valley vintage to date in this ‘memory lane’ line up. The south-facing vineyard on chalk was first planted in 2009, and Spurrier was looking to make an aperitif style fizz with verticality and precision. The 2014 has great cut and thrust, showing a pure hedgerow acidity so typical of English sparkling wine, accompanied by flavours of white flowers, a touch of lemon and grapefruit, and some yeasty autolytic notes that are just beginning to peep through. The dosage is low at just 8.9g/l, giving it a lovely austerity. This is good now, and will be so for another four or five years.