Collection: Ambriel

This family-owned vineyard consists of 9.5 hectares on sunny south-facing slopes overlooking the rolling hills of South Downs in West Sussex.

It's run by former barrister Wendy Outhwaite and her husband Charles - who, apparently, has gone one step further to ensure he never runs out. At school, he brewed beer in his waste paper bin. He was never caught due to his study mate’s enthusiasm for cooking sausages using the live wires from the electrical socket (not recommended). Their Ambriel wines taste far better than Charles’s beer, thankfully.

The vineyard was planted in 2008 and is on free-draining greensand: The underlying rock stores heat from the sun and reflects it to help ripen the grapes. Their vines are the classic varieties (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier), the clones Burgundian, selected for quality rather than quantity - and they only use their own grapes which is rather unusual. It’s boutique and it’s brilliant—Wendy and Charles have built a reputation for producing some of the country’s most elegant, characterful fizz.