Sugrue, The Trouble With Dreams, England

Tom Cannavan's 2024 Balmoral Bash (Number One Balmoral) : Quite a dark champagne yellow. Fairly evolved nature, but great depth and character, a sparkling wine that you can really chew on, it made a very interesting start, especially as I was a couple of minutes late and was handed this lovely glass to calm me down. Red apples seem to dominate here, some autumn wet leaf bonfire shows up. I tasted this having no idea where it was from nor …

Pale to mid straw. Similar to previous bottle four years ago in that it’s not as flabby and lacklustre as this can be, but nonetheless a fair match for the England game in more than name. Bright and rounded upfront with some energy, and nice attack, but short and lacking mid-palate depth and complexity. Another few years in the cellar, perhaps. The trouble with dreams. ***1/2

Rich nose of baked apples, cream; ripe stone fruit, redcurrants, malted milk biscuit; full, round texture with a lift of focussed acidity; shortish finish but bright and refreshing.

Pale gold with nose of yeast, pastry, dough, red apple, pear, green apple, lemon, honey & nuts. Nice mouthfeel & weight. Strong acidity, creamy mousse with palate of red apple, green apple, lemon, honey, nuts, bread, toast & lemon peel. Long. Day 2: Fruit really came to the fore, well defined red apple, redcurrant, strawberry & citrus peel. Huge step up on previous disappointing bottle. Excellent balance and strong definition & range of flavours. Based on this showing drinking nicely …

Carmen (Longborough) : Good but rich and unbalanced after the Rothschild champagne from magnum.

Light straw colour, flint and brioche on the nose. Taste flint and citrus. Lovely and very close to champagne

2/6. Pale to mid straw. Initially a little better than the previous bottle, but still quite flabby upfront, more mid palate but still short. Changes around a bit over a couple of hours, but then after a couple of glasses and around three hours in open bottle this seems to pull together. Smoky nose, far more poise and precision, good spine, some fine coffee cream and walnut around the mid palate with a finely mineral, slightly chalky textured finish. Far …

Mid to full straw. Nicely inviting nose of creamy richness with warm butter and some gentle oak spice. Similar on the attack, quite rich and full with a creamy mousse and then... nothing. Almost no mid-palate or finish. Zero persistence. Curious. This is all promise and no delivery. An off bottle? Sulky because it was only delivered yesterday? On this bottle’s showing, it falls a long way short of the hype. **1/2

Deep golden colour, nose of brie (?), dry and flinty palate, some citrus.