Summer Solstice at Avebury - Maud Heath

I'd planned to go and see in the summer solstice at Avebury this year with a few friends, and spent some time beforehand thinking what would be an appropriate drink to toast the sunset (yes I know sunrise is the main event but some of us have jobs you know!). After a bit of searching around, I came across Maud Heath.

The vineyard is located near Calne, just 7 or 8 miles away from Avebury, and as far as I can tell is the closest to the ancient stone circle. I think this is the first time I've had an English sparkling wine from Wiltshire.

We had the 2013 vintage, which is Chardonnay dominant (62% Chardonnay, 37% Pinot Noir, 1% Pinot Meunier). Our stemware was rather sub-optimal - cheap supermarket plastic flutes - and chilling apparatus was quite improvised as we were on the move (an Ice Bag which I ended up carrying for several miles). So we probably weren't tasting this at its best, and I think some of the bouquet got a bit lost in the noise. 

Quite dry, obviously some citrus notes from the heavy Chardonnay presence, but tempered by presumably a reasonably long lees aging, as there was some autolytic character there. Seemed a bit restrained, especially in terms of the fruit profile, although possibly that was down to the less than perfect serving conditions.

It did, however, feel very fitting to be drinking the local wine here. This being an event all about the sun and the earth, two things which are, of course, pretty important to viticulture too. It would be rather fanciful to try to make a connection between the principles of site selection for vinegrowing versus those for establishing a Neolithic stone monument but they do at least both consider the orientation with respect to the sun!