Langham Wine Estate is one of the most exciting names in English wine, with Jancis Robinson describing their distinctive style as ‘à la Selosse’ and the IWSC naming them ‘Sparkling Wine Producer of the Year’ in 2020. Head winemaker Tommy Grimshaw is fast making a name for himself as one of England’s best young talents, crafting low-intervention, traditional method sparkling wines from a single site in rural Dorset.
Langham began as a small vineyard planted by John Langham at his Dorset family home. It remained a hobby until 2009 when his son Justin started making wine in earnest. After studying viticulture at Plumpton, Justin planted the first block of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier at nearby Crawthorne farm, where they are based today. Now joined by a small but dynamic team, Langham remains independent and family-run.
The 34-hectare vineyard is south-facing, with clay and flint soils over Kimmeridgian and Portlandian limestone derived from the Corallian strata, similar to Dorset’s Jurassic coastline. The team is meticulous in the vineyard, working tirelessly to reduce chemical intervention, trialling cover crops, and improving canopy management to increase airflow and naturally reduce disease pressure.
Langham’s grapes are hand-harvested and carefully sorted in the vineyard and winery. High-quality fruit facilitates Tommy’s low-intervention approach in the cellar. Base wines are made using indigenous yeasts, with extended ageing and regular bâtonnage in a mixture of stainless steel, concrete and used French barriques (ex-Burgundy, ex-Bordeaux and ex-Champagne). Oxidative techniques and expressive base wines are key to Langham’s style, which relies on blending to create complexity rather than extended lees-ageing in bottle. Minimal use of sulphur and low dosage ensures optimal site expression.
‘Culver’, named after Culver chalk, is Pinot Noir-dominant, offering a more opulent style with a savoury, spicy character.
