Meet the Winemakers

Producer: Gusbourne
Winemaker: Charlie Holland
Region: Kent
Country: England

Gusbourne Estate takes its name from its first owner in 1410, John de Goosebourne, whose coat of arms depicting three geese and a dry bourne still hangs from the beams in the Norman church of Appledore village. Over the centuries, the spelling (and pronunciation) of the estate name mutated to 'Gusbourne”. In 2004, when founder Andrew Weeber planted the first vines on Gusbourne Estate’s coastal escarpment in Kent, in the far South Eastern corner of England, he had a clear vision and a single goal: to create English Sparkling Wines that would stand up alongside the very finest offerings from across the globe.

Focusing on just the classic grape varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, Gusbourne grow all grapes used in their winemaking in their own vineyards which are blessed with a very special terroir: Wealden clay-loam soils combined with an exceptionally warm and dry maritime climate enables Gusbourne to be the first to harvest in England, whilst their proximity to the sea provides a distinctive salty tang to the wines. Vines are tended with great care and attention to the environment, using only organic fertilisers, and over half of the vines planted are Burgundian (rather than Champagne) clones. This means that they produce lower yields (brought lower still by green harvests every year), but the resultant fruit is riper and has significantly more flavour.

Gusbourne's Traditional Method Sparkling winemaking is a slow process. They follow strict, self-imposed parameters (for example at pressing the free run and tail are separated and only the first pressing used) to maintain our exacting standards and keep intervention to an absolute minimum to ensure the best expression of our wines each and every year.