Married Masters of Wine Susie Barrie and Peter Richards are two of the trade’s most recognisable TV presenters. To their impressive portfolio – event hosts, published authors, columnists, consultants – they can now add master blenders, with a trio of wines they’ve crafted for charity.
These include two fine English fizzes and an outstanding 2018 pinot noir, and you can taste them all in a limited-edition mixed case you can only get from The Society. Even so, we have just 250 cases on offer.
Five years ago, as part of their Big English Wine Adventure, Susie and Peter were given carte blanche to blend their own traditional-method sparkling wines at award-winning Hattingley Valley in Hampshire, with the aim of helping a deserving charity. They made 1,000 bottles each of a blanc de blancs from the 2016 harvest and a pinot meunier-led Champagne blend from 2017. The memorable 2018 vintage enabled them to complete a must-have set with a fabulous still pinot noir from Essex producer, Danbury Ridge, one of the best we’ve ever tasted and, like the other a testament to how far our industry has come.
In a true collaborative effort, a local artist and packaging company donated their expertise to design labels and cases, while Susie and Peter’s many thousands of followers came up with the inspired name of Hope & Glory for the sparkling wines. That left logistical and marketing support, and The Wine Society jumped at the chance to provide it when Susie and Peter approached us with exclusive rights to a unique mixed case. We’d have been mad not to: these are genuinely some of the finest English wines we’ve ever been lucky enough to try.
All profits will go to The Marine Conservation Society, which campaigns for cleaner, healthier, better oceans we can all enjoy, and you’ll be supporting it with every sip. Don’t miss out.