Twenty years after Dermot Sugrue planted his first vineyard at Storrington Priory with a single ambition – to create a world-class sparkling wine grown on South Downs chalk – Sugrue South Downs has released the latest vintage of its flagship cuvée, The Trouble With Dreams 2022.
First produced from the 2009 vintage, The Trouble With Dreams has become one of the defining wines of modern English winemaking, earning a cult following among critics and collectors and establishing Dermot Sugrue as one of England’s most acclaimed winemakers. Today, it is poured in some of the world’s finest restaurants and has become a benchmark for English sparkling wine.
“When I planted that first vineyard in 2006, I wanted to make a sparkling wine inspired by the great grower Champagnes of the Côte des Blancs, but one that spoke entirely of the South Downs,” said Dermot. “It has taken twenty years and thirteen vintages to realise that vision, but dreams do come true!”
The 2022 growing season was unlike any other: the UK experienced its warmest year on record, with temperatures exceeding 40°C for the first time. While drought challenged many vineyards, Sugrue South Downs’s mature vines – now averaging 17 years of age across sites in Sussex and Hampshire – drew on deep root systems to produce fruit of exceptional concentration, freshness and balance.
The resulting wine is a blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir sourced from Mount Harry Vineyard, Storrington Priory Vineyard, Coldharbour Vineyard in Sussex, and Jenkyn Place in Hampshire. Forty per cent of the base wine fermented in old Burgundian oak barrels, and the remainder in stainless steel. Thanks to the exceptional ripeness of the vintage, no malolactic fermentation was required, preserving remarkable tension and purity, before 32 months’ ageing on lees and disgorgement with a low dosage of 6g/L.
Describing the new release, Dermot said: “The Trouble With Dreams 2022 is open, bright, textural, salty and electric. It speaks entirely of its place, its vintage and its winemaker – just as I dreamt all those years ago.”
The Trouble With Dreams 2022 is available via Sugrue South Downs, Farr Vintners, Hedonism Wines for £49 per bottle or £264.60 per case of six bottles.
