Not Just Surviving, Developing:
2019 Balfour Cinque Ports
Every now and then you taste an English wine that makes you reconsider what is possible
Simon Larkin MW
2019 Cinque Ports, Balfour
£185 per 6 bottle case inclusive of duty and VAT
Every now and then you taste an English wine that makes you reconsider what is possible here. The 2019 Cinque Ports from Balfour is one of those wines that did just that for me.
I have come to regard Fergus Elias as one of the brightest sparks on the English wine scene, and Cinque Ports gives you some idea why. It was conceived as a one-off and has not been made again, which makes what is in the bottle today all the more intriguing.
At first glance it is predominantly Chardonnay, 90% in fact, but the remaining 10% is where things become decidedly more eccentric: 4% Petite Meslier, 2.5% Pinot Blanc, 2.5% Pinot Gris and 1% Arbanne. Even amongst keen wine drinkers, I suspect Petite Meslier and Arbanne won't feature too prominently in most people's drinking history. They are two of Champagne's little-seen historic varieties, brought together here with Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris in a still wine that is strikingly individual. At just 11.5% alcohol, it is also a reminder that concentration and depth don't necessarily require high levels of ripeness or alcohol.
The name plays neatly on both the five varieties in the blend and its Kentish origins. The historic Cinque Ports (pronounced ‘sink’ in English!) were the five south-eastern ports of Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich. For hundreds of years, the Cinque Ports provided ships and sailors for the defence of England's coast in return for privileges from the Crown. 'Cinque' is simply the Old French for five.
The fruit comes principally from Old Eight Acre and Middle Strackney Wood on Balfour's Hush Heath Estate, together with a small proportion of Kentish Pinot Gris. Balfour Winery describes them as specially selected vineyards at the top of the estate and describes the soil as Tonbridge Wells Clay. This isn't, therefore, the familiar English-wine story of chalk and Champagne. It is a different Kentish terroir being asked to produce a serious still white.
What fascinates me most, though, is where the wine has got to today. 2019 wasn't one of those exceptionally hot English summers that makes ripeness easy to explain away, yet there is no sense that this wine lacks either depth or substance. At just 11.5% alcohol it has remarkable presence. Nine months in French Fontainebleau oak, followed by prolonged lees ageing, has added breadth and texture without sacrificing that naturally vivid acidity.
There is a quality here that makes me think of a good Mâconnais, although the acidity is livelier and distinctly English. The fruit has filled out and broadened, acquiring a creamy, nutty, hazelnut character alongside that freshness. It isn't trying to imitate Burgundy, but there is something familiar in the way Chardonnay, oak, lees and bottle age have come together.
A while ago, I read Anne Krebiehl MW's assessment for Vinous and noted it chimed with my own. Reviewing the wine in October 2024, she was similarly struck by its freshness, concentration and developing hazelnut character. More importantly, her assessment gives it a considerable future ahead. And it was the highest scoring wine (equal with four others) of Anne's review of multiple wines from 28 different English estates.
2019 Cinque Ports, Balfour
£185 per 6 bottle case inclusive of duty and VAT
93 points, Anne Krebiehl MW, vinous.com, April 2025
The 2019 Cinque Ports is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Petit Meslier and Arbane, all vinified separately then blended and aged in oak. The nose is most subtle but has a lovely touch of distant nettle that lends aromatics to the lemony, buttery, creamy nose. The palate is beautifully concentrated, absolutely bright with freshness and allows gorgeous glimpses of chalkiness edged with hints of hazelnut and smoke. This is a really fine effort with ample fruit, poise and depth—especially impressive considering it has over four years in bottle and still has a way to go. Drink to 2035
For me, that is perhaps the most compelling part of the story.
We talk a great deal about the improving quality of English still wine, and arguably, it is more exciting in terms of today’s potential than it was in 2019, but most examples are inevitably consumed when young. Here we have a 2019, now seven years on from the vintage, and the question isn't simply whether it has survived. It has developed. The freshness remains, but around it the wine has acquired the savoury, creamy, nutty complexity that only comes with bottle age.
There is an important distinction here. Longevity in itself doesn't make a wine interesting. The real test is whether maturity brings something worthwhile with it. Cinque Ports isn't merely ageing; it is becoming more interesting with age.
And that, to me, is what makes this wine such a fascinating bottle. It was a one-off, an experiment that has never been repeated, combining tiny percentages of some of Champagne's least familiar varieties with Chardonnay from a very English site in a relatively normal English vintage. Seven years later, rather than simply demonstrating that English still wine can last, it shows that it can evolve.
The wine will be available for delivery from the beginning of November.
Please let us know of your interest.
Simon
simon.larkin@atlasfinewines.com