Ensure you always know which chilled bottle to open — and what to serve alongside — with fail-safe tips and insightful advice from our in-house experts.
When you venture to Appledore, Kent, you’ll find our welcoming (and award-winning) tasting room, The Nest. This is a place for wine lovers to indulge in gorgeous bottles alongside freshly prepared, seasonal menus. It’s also a place for those who are completely new to English wine to dip a toe in the water.
Needless to say, there’s a whip-smart team on hand to make your tasting experience memorable. These skilled folk know our wines inside-out — so, to help you make the most of your Gusbourne (wherever you’re enjoying it) we’ve plundered their expertise.
Julie Warner-Gladish, DipWSET, is one of our most knowledgeable guides. She’s a dab hand at answering the trickiest of questions and dispensing advice on our wines. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, culinary talent and Head Chef Anthony Coppard makes food and wine matching look effortless.
To give you a taste for the kind of flavours which will make each wine sing, Anthony’s shared a canapé suggestion for each of our classic bottlings. “Try not to get too tied up by wine and food matching rules,” says Coppard. “Stick with fresh, seasonal ingredients — whether that’s spring’s wild garlic and mushrooms, or autumn’s lovely squashes and root vegetables — and you can’t go wrong.
“I always avoid too much heat or spice when creating menus to match with our wines. But you don’t need to be scared of bold flavours. I often find that something pickled — a bit of sauerkraut for example — can work well with the acid profile of a cuvée like Blanc de Blancs.
“Another tip is that you can match the wine to a secondary ingredient — say, a citrus dressing — to bring out different flavours in the wine. Taste, experiment — and just get stuck in.”
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“This is my favourite wine to show people,” says Warner-Gladish. “The acidity is lovely and balanced; it’s soft, it’s creamy. It’s got such a generosity. This is the wine take to a friend’s party.
It’s the perfect introduction for someone who’s never tried English sparkling wine. It’s easy-going and crowd-pleasing — my go-to wine. And the fact that it’s our entry point into the range is staggering because it’s just so good.
“Make sure you don’t serve it too cold; that will squash some of its pretty characteristics. Brut Reserve is great on its own; perfect at a picnic; incredible for a wedding or speeches. It’s completely adaptable.”
Anthony Coppard’s food match
Whipped carrot and chickpea hummus with roquito peppers and toasted black sesame.
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Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs 2019
“This wine is characterised by its linear acidity; you’ll know what I mean when you take a mouthful. The acidity is right there in the middle of your palate — and it’s completely exhilarating.
"You’ll want it with some beautiful fresh oysters, or something from the sea. Or a little bit of cheese — nothing too heavy, but something with a little fat in which will be a wonderful counterpoint to the wine. Just-cooked fish and chips are also an incredible match.
“The 2019 vintage has got so much citrus going on; it’s incredibly lively. For me, this is a wine that should be paired with the right food for it to be at its best.
“This style of wine is really age-worthy: it suits those tertiary flavours — pastry, toast and nuts — which develop with time in the cellar. I always feel that our Blanc de Blancs is a wine which can be laid down for a period of time.”
Anthony Coppard’s food match
Fresh crab with Kentish rapeseed and lemon emulsion, fennel tops and pickled shallots.
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“This is my personal favourite,” says Warner-Gladish. “I’m a protein-head and I enjoy eating meat; for me, this is a sparkling white wine for red-wine lovers.
“It’s got this superb depth of flavour; it’s got that backbone. It’s got that intensity. It even has a slightly more golden colour to it. Just everything about it is bigger. It’s bolder, it’s fruity. It’s got so much going on and it can stand up to dishes like lamb or duck.
“At Christmas, it’s my go-to because it doesn’t matter what anyone’s eating: it will go with it, whether that’s nut roast, or turkey.”
Anthony Coppard’s food match
Twineham Grange (a local Parmesan-style cheese) and black pepper Arancini.
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“The Rosé is probably the most underrated wine at Gusbourne,” says Warner-Gladish. “And it’s also the biggest surprise. Because people assume a rosé will be sweeter. When they taste ours, they’ll find it beautifully dry and complex, crisp and refreshing.
“It goes really well with a little bit of charcuterie – whether that’s prosciutto with a little fat, or some cheeses. Something like that, enjoyed in the sunshine, would be perfect. You could even have it with something like strawberries too. It’s got a lot of sweet-fruit tasting notes, but it’s not actually a sweet wine; it’s got this wonderfully crisp, red-fruit-driven finish.”
Anthony Coppard’s food match
Local hot smoked salmon — or chalk-stream trout — with lemon and herb cream cheese blinis.
Tour, taste and dine with us
If you’d like to experience our guided tastings and wine-and-food matching first-hand, we offer expert-hosted tours and guided wine tastings year-round at our vineyards in Appledore Kent. The most popular experience, the Estate Tour, includes a three-course lunch, prepared by Anthony Coppard, and matched with a range of Gusbourne wines. Find out more at gusbourne.com/tours