On a day so wet it brought trains to a standstill, wine writers converged in Kent to explore the Taittinger family’s second New World venture, Domaine Evremond.
Nestled near Chilham, not far from where wine luminary Oz Clarke spent his youth hop-picking, Evremond follows in the footsteps of its 1985-born Californian sibling, Domaine Carneros. The unveiling of the commemorative plaque, attended by figures such as the Archdeacon of Canterbury and the Civair Général of Reims Cathedral — whom one imagines were treated to more palatable coffee than the press — was rich with history. After all, it was 45 years ago that Jean Taittinger, with a vision of Franco-British friendship, twinned the cities of Reims and Canterbury.
The project takes its name from exile Charles de Saint-Évremond, a 17th century soldier, poet and bon vivant who purportedly introduced white wine from Champagne to England not in bottle, but barrel, and now rests in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. He is the only Frenchman to do so.
“This is a huge, historic emblem of friendship between the English and the French,” said Vitalie Taittinger, speaking with the poised authority of someone leading her family’s brand into uncharted territory. “Being a professional in France doesn’t mean you’re an expert here,” she admitted, highlighting the challenge of adapting Champagne knowledge to Kent’s soils.
She then turned to Patrick McGrath, co-founder of the estate, who revealed his daughter India’s involvement as their first employee in nine years, following her time defusing land mines in Baghdad. A fitting preparation, one might say, for the delicate manoeuvres of English viticulture.
The new winery — a sleek, gravity-fed masterpiece of efficiency — stands in stark contrast to what McGrath wryly called a “grotty barn with the asbestos stripped off.” Buried two-thirds underground in a vast 40,000m³ lair excavated by the same firm responsible for the Channel Tunnel, it will house up to 1.5 million bottles at a steady 11 degrees, bathed in a muted orange glow. Though the industrial design is softened by fledgling white cherry and apple trees, along with a wildflower-covered roof, it hasn’t won over everyone — one disgruntled local even escalated her objections all the way to the Court of Appeal, retarding the project by an entire year.
The roots of Domaine Evremond trace back to a serendipitous friendship between leonine Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger and slender McGrath. After Kent’s reputation for long sunshine hours and fine fruit led Master of Wine Stephen Skelton to recommend the area, Taittinger seized the opportunity, initially purchasing 69 hectares of Stone Stile Farm from fourth-generation fruit farmer, Mark Gaskin. Gaskin, who now lends his manpower and machinery to tend the vineyards, admitted: “I expected some City type wanting to put their name on a bottle... it was a pretty good day to find it was Taittinger.”
Now strung across conspicuously metal rigged trellises, the vines — planted with the classic Champagne varieties of chardonnay, pinot noir and meunier — are gradually adapting to Kent’s windier, cooler, and less sunlit conditions. Gaskin, more accustomed to the comparatively straightforward demands of Gala apples, wryly likens the vines to “thugs,” insisting they require firm control. On a bumpy trailer ride through the vineyards, the results appeared promising, under the watchful eye of viticulture expert Christelle Rinville — who says she has yet to set foot in another English vineyard.
Although Domaine Evremond’s first release won’t hit the market until 2025, acting winemaker Alexandre Ponnavoy offered guests a tantalising preview. The debut Classic Cuvée — still infantile at just four weeks post-disgorgement — is a blend of 55 per cent pinot noir, 35 per cent chardonnay, and 10 per cent meunier, entirely from estate fruit harvested in 2019 and 2020.
Eschewing time-trodden techniques which build body, such as oak and batonage, in pursuit of “purity,” Ponnavoy’s focus is on developing a library of reserve wines to add to future expressions, with a gentle dosage to round out England’s characteristic acidity. With input from one Jonathan Medard, a former winemaker at Trump winery who was later fired after a “monumental cock up” saw him “ruin” the 2017 vintage at Sussex wine estate, Rathfinny, according to the Daily Mail, the current result, bereft of the bolstering of back vintages, is a wine of frustratingly understated elegance, bearing a tense, putty and marine-inflected nose, followed by hints of unripe pineapple on the palate which finishes with a whisper of orange liqueur and a trace of bitterness.
At £50 a bottle, can this frail style hold its own? Not only against England’s rising stars but also Champagne’s heavyweights, including Taittinger itself? Will these raw ingredients evolve into something truly luxurious with the alchemy of time? The decision to market it so cautiously — almost apologetically — with only a modest nod to its prestigious parent, Taittinger, on the back label, and a pointed refusal to draw comparisons with Champagne, feels like a surprisingly timid approach for such a high-profile venture.
For now, Domaine Evremond stands as a testament to the evolving English wine scene, a gleaming symbol of Franco-British collaboration, and an intriguing chapter in Taittinger’s history.
As the vineyards mature and the winery finds its rhythm, one can only imagine how future vintages will unfold. Although nearly seven and a half years have passed since the first vines were planted on an unseasonably cool day by the likes of your correspondent, the actual wines, born of friendship and ambition, are just beginning their journey.
