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Digby Fine English

‘Leander Pink’

Brut Rosé   |   Dorset & Kent - England
Shelf Talker Spec Sheet Wine Label Bottle Image

About

2016 saw the addition of a new wine to Digby’s range in the form of Leander Pink. This non-vintage rosé was developed in collaboration with the Leander Club, the world’s oldest open rowing club, which has nurtured some of Great Britain’s finest talent. Bearing the club’s distinctive pink hue and hippo motif, Leander Pink offers an energetic, elegant but more laid back interpretation of the Digby house style. A proportion of sales from each bottle goes to support the Leander Academy, helping to produce the next generation of champions. The current release is an 80/20 blend of 2017 base wine and reserve wines. It was disgorged in October 2023.

The grapes were hand-harvested from vineyards primarily in Dorset and Kent starting the second week of October. The bunches were whole-bunch pressed primarily to stainless-steel, though 6% of the final blend was fermented and aged in neutral French barriques. The rosé color is achieved through judicious blending of white and red components. Malolactic fermentation is now fully carried out whereas the earlier bottlings it was blocked. The current vintage wine is then blended with 20% of older wine that has been aging in tank. The wine was bottled with a coarse filtration and fining and then hit with the liqueur de tirage spending a little over three years on lees aging and gaining complexity. The wines are disgorged to order and hit with a 12 gram dosage before aging for an additional six months on cork prior to release.

Stats

  • Grapes: 50% Pinot Noir - 35% Chardonnay - 15% Pinot Meunier
  • Vineyard: Four sites throughout the North & South Downs: Primarily Dorset & Kent with supporting sites in Sussex & Hampshire
  • Vine Age: Varied: Average 13-years-old
  • Soil Type: Predominantly chalk & clay with a smattering of greensand
  • Viticulture: Sustainable & conventional
  • Fermentation: Inoculated – 94% stainless-steel & 6% second use French barrique
  • Skin Contact: 5 days for the Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier components
  • Aging: Primary: 9 months in stainless-steel (94%) & second passage French barrique (6%) Secondary: 38 months in bottle
  • Alcohol: 12%
  • Residual Sugar: 12 g/L
  • pH: 3.3
  • Total Acidity: 9.5 g/L
  • Total SO2: 41 ppm
  • Total Production: 3,333 cases
  • UPC: 5060463800062

Tasting Note

Light pink with a steady stream of small bubbles. The taste is designed to transport you riverside on a warm summer’s day. Ripe peach, strawberry, orange rind and red apples arrive with a statement. The wine is medium-bodied and quite incisive but still remains elegant with just the right amount of flesh. Ripe citrus and strawberry flavors linger nicely on the slightly spicy finish.

Press & Reviews

Decanter

93

“Strawberry, cherry and cream aromatics. Restrained palate with vibrant ripe raspberry. Bright and lively on the finish.”

-Decanter World Wine Awards

Wine & Spirits

92

"Trevor Clough and Jason Humphries founded Digby as a négociant brand, setting up purchasing agreements with vineyards they believe are producing England’s top fruit. This is the first release of Leander Pink, a collaboration with the Leander Club, the world’s oldest open rowing club; a portion of the sales goes to support the Leander Academy to train talented rowers. It’s a blend of pinot noir (50 percent), chardonnay and meunier from the North and South Downs of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire, where the soils are mostly chalk and clay. It’s a pretty pink wine with some delicacy to its red-currant flavors, lasting with notes of cardamom and star anise. Pour it with duck rillettes."

- Joshua Greene

Wine Enthusiast

91

"With its vibrant blush color, there’s an overarching yeastiness that’s present amid the raspberry and cream. The palate is tangy and bright, with bracing acidity and a lingering red cherry note on the finish. A tasty summer sipper with both class and crowd appeal."

- Christina Pickard
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Producer


Digby Fine English

Region


Dorset & Kent

Country


England

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