Sugrue Ex Machina Rose, Sugrue South Downs 2018

Full bottle 1,604 g. From a 7.35-ha site called Cold Harbour Vineyard, planted in 2005. Sustainably farmed. 70% Pinot Noir, 20% Meunier, 10% Chardonnay. Ana and Dermot Sugrue's new release.
Deep, shining, copper-coral colour. It looks like sunrise on a crisp, clear-as-a-bell autumn morning. It tastes like sunrise on a crisp, clear-as-a-bell autumn morning. The tiny bubbles are like a shower of dewdrop diamonds, which seem to turn ruby-gemstone red as they meet the sweet flood of rose hip, red apple and clementine. And then it pixelates on the tongue, crystalline acidity and exquisitely precise fruit in a kaleidoscopic collision of dazzling dimensions. Breath-taking, spine-tingling purity shot forward, arrow-like, by acidity that tastes of blood oranges. A wine to watch the sun rise with ... 2024 - 2030

Made entirely from Coldharbour Vineyard fruit, the rosé this year has 20% red wine in the blend. It is a vibrant salmon colour with lightly creamy and smoky red fruits at the core, reminiscent of summer pudding. Silky and rounded on the palate, it is the softest of the wines from the current releases and therefore the best to drink now. Vibrant and bursting with cranberry, raspberry and blood orange, it is a wine designed for the summer heat. New label that falls much more in line with the other wines from Sugrue South Downs.