Established in 1734, the famous French champagne house Taittinger announced the acquisition of a massive property in Kent, UK, where it plans to establish an UK Vineyard and work with British wine company Hatch Mansfield on a brand new product.
69 hectares of farmland at Stone Stile Farm in Kent will help the brand achieve its goal of making something of real excellence in the UK’s increasingly temperate climate.
Forty hectares will be planted with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier vines to produce premium English Sparkling Wine. Of course, this will take time, since the plots will first have to be transformed from orchards into vineyards, after which premium English Sparkling Wine will be made using ‘domaine’ fruit from the farm.
The new wine estate will be called Domaine Evremond and when it will be fully operational it should produce 300,000 bottles per season, which might sound like a lot, but it’s not too much. The Champagne Taittinger x Hatch Mansfield joint effort represents the first take on premium English Sparkling Wines, a dream which will be turned into reality after many years.
Domaine Evremond takes its name from Charles de Saint‐Evremond (1614‐1703), a Frenchman and the first true ambassador for Champagne. A poet, epicurean and literary critic, he is buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.
