You get a better class of music at Exton Park. Whereas most wineries blare house or hip hop in the winery at harvest time, at this Hampshire estate the Pinot Noir was being pressed to the stirring sounds of ‘Dies Irae’ from Mozart's Requiem.
We were there for what was billed as a 'harvest experience'. It was only when I arrived that I realised we were expected to work. My mind went back to a similar 'experience' in the Mosel which involved starting at six on a cold damp October morning and picking on the steep slopes until lunchtime.
Exton Park has 60 acres of vineyard in some of the prettiest English countryside
This was an altogether happier experience. A troop of journalists, restaurateurs and sommeliers arrived on a beautiful autumn morning. On our way we passed through some of the prettiest countryside in England. The pinnacle was Exton itself where some of the houses have their own little wooden bridges to cross the shallow river that runs through the village. If there's an English equivalent of La France Profonde, then it's here.
Vineyard manager Fred Langdale - 2025 looks to be one of the best vintages ever
After coffee and bacon rolls we headed out into the vineyard to pick Pinot Noir. Vineyard manager Fred Langdale said it was "the best harvest I've seen for years". He's aiming for about 100 tonnes from the 60 acre vineyard after the disappointing 2024 where they only got 48. The grapes were beautifully sweet, with ripe skins and pips beginning to brown.
Freshly picked Pinot Noir being pressed
After an hour's fairly leisurely picking we loaded the grapes onto a conveyor belt into the press. My job was to remove MOG, matter other than grapes like snails and leaves, which I did fastidiously. The Pinot Noir was pressed into a pink juice used to make Exton Park's signature rosé (rather than having red wine added to white as is normal in England). The just-pressed juice tasted sublime.
Team Mentzendorff: Elise Mather, Justin Liddle, Eve Oliphant (l-r)
As well as a promising harvest, we were there to celebrate Exton joining the Mentzendorff portfolio alongside Bollinger and Taylor’s port. The Mentzendorff team, resplendent in country chic like the window of Cordings in Piccadilly, were out in force led by managing director Justin Liddle. After Hambledon moved following its acquisition by Berry Bros and the Symingtons, Liddle was looking for a new English sparkling wine and Exton Park "ticked all the boxes".
It's quite a bit smaller than Hambledon, producing around 50,000 bottles from estate-grown fruit. The soil is pure chalk planted with 40% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir and 20% Pinot Meunier. It dates back to 2003 but took off when salad baron Malcolm Isaac bought it in 2008. Langdale came with the property but there were no buildings or winery.
In 2011 Isaac took on Corinne Seely, previously winemaker at Domaine de Chevalier and later Coates & Seely, and tasked her with building a winery to her specifications – every winemaker's dream. Isaac died last year but they are still guided by his principles. CEO Robin McMillen, formerly of The Wine Society, described him as “our spirit animal.”
We only saw Seely briefly as there were technical problems in the winery. Nevertheless she looked immaculate, dressed as if she was off for an elegant lunch rather than wrestling with a recalcitrant press. She summed up her first experience of English wine in 2001 with a very French "hmmmm!" But soon after realised that in the South Downs "it was possible to create a new category of the best." After she left, Karl McCulloch, the sales director, praised the "symbiosis between Fred and Corinne."
The Exton Park team is aiming to get 100 tonnes of grapes in 2025 - over twice the amount from 2024
The core range of wines is all non-vintage. The aim, he said, is "grand marque consistency, style and volume with a grower attitude to terroir." The three grape varieties and differences in altitude ranging from 65 to 130 metres above sea level in the vineyard give Seely lots of different flavours to play with. The RB (reserve blend) 28 Blanc de Noirs is made up of 80% reserve wines. Each cuvée is named after (roughly) the number of component parts, though Langdale admitted that often they didn't know exactly what was in each. It seems Seely is the very opposite of a spreadsheet winemaker. McMillen said that his job was "to let the genius [Corinne] do her thing."
The wines were impressive. The flagship RB 23 Rosé has a distinctive red fruit character; it's not just a pink-coloured white wine. In the past, I'd found the acidity in some Exton releases a little too English but these were all impeccably balanced, evidence of the strength in reserve wines going back 13 years. Seely uses oak very sparingly and malolactic fermentation rarely.
Sea-aged bottles have more autolytic qualities apparently
As well as the core range, there are vintage releases plus some more outlandish stuff. They have bottles ageing on their lees beneath the waves at Brest in Brittany which will be released later this year. According to McMillen, the movement of the waves means the wines have a more autolytic character. Plus the bottles get covered in barnacles which looks really cool.
The estate is fully planted so they have no plans to expand. Most of the production goes to the on-trade, and the rest to premium retail with no supermarkets. There's a hospitality venue like a boutique hotel but tourism is not a big part of the Exton Park business model. It is largely for corporate use. They cap visitor numbers at 5,000 a year which are by appointment only with public tours twice a week.
If you can secure one of those 5,000 annual visitor slots, I'd strongly recommend it. Exton Park is one of England’s most beautiful estates and the wines keep getting better and better. With Mentzendorff's backing and 13 years of reserve wines at Seely's disposal, Exton Park is delivering on Malcolm Isaac’s founding ambition: creating something distinctly, confidently English.
Exton Park RB 45 Blanc de Blancs
This has a small proportion of oak-aged and malo wines with four years on lees.
There’s a fresh lemony nose, touch of butter and vanilla. On the palate there’s citrus with flaky pasty plus lovely spice, cinnamon, ginger and a touch of coffee. Very long. Classic lean English style with beautiful balance.
Exton Park RB 28 Blanc de Noirs
100% Pinot Noir, three years on lees
Rich nose with fresh apple, marmite, and a touch bruised apple. Pure orchard fruit in the mouth, even a touch of peach, nice roundness and ripeness, very fresh with just a little development on the finish.
Exton Park RB 32 Brut
40% Chardonnay 60% Pinot Noir, five years on lees
Citrus nose, limes, touch smoky, very fresh. On the palate more citrus and then spice, cinnamon, coffee, good richness, hazelnut at the end. Super fresh and beautifully developed. One of the best releases of this I've tasted.
Exton Park RB 23 Rosé
70% Pinot Noir, 30% Pinot Meunier, three years on lees. Made from direct pressing red grapes to get a pink juice.
Pretty salmon pink colour. Grapey nose, really smells like fresh black grapes, bready and spicy. Good ripeness, bready, fine bubbles, lovely perfume here, red fruit and touch of saline.
The wines of Exton Park are imported and sold in the UK through Mentzendorff which is a commercial partner of The Buyer. To discover more about them click here.
