Jacob Leadley has held a messianic faith in Hampshire chalk for over seven years. Utterly convinced of its potential to create insane sparkling wine he risked everything to buy his own vineyards and build a winery – a mere week before lockdown hit.

It might have sunk a softer team, but Jacob, James and Zoë are made of sterner stuff. Today this decision is bearing fruit: all of the wine made at Black Chalk is made from owned vineyards. With 35 clone rootstock variations on 30 acres (spread across three vineyard sites) – coupled with small and varied batch pressings, the team have a palate to play with that is worthy of the artistic Black Chalk name.

Lisse Garnett, Juin 2022