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THE TROUBLE WITH DREAMS COLLECTOR'S CASE

THE TROUBLE WITH DREAMS COLLECTOR'S CASE

CONTAINS 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, MV (2021)

Twenty years ago, I planted my first vineyard for a monastic order of Catholic priests at Storrington Priory – a south-facing, chalky-greensand site at the foot of the South Downs.
 
So successful was the first crop that birds ate all the fruit, dashing any hopes of making wine in 2008. While thoroughly pissed off, I was undeterred, but at least I had a name for my first release.
 
It is remarkable how much the English wine landscape, not to mention my life as a winemaker, has changed over the past two decades, and yet The Trouble With Dreams has remained something of a constant.
 
Two-thirds Chardonnay to one-third Pinot Noir, harvested as late as we dare, fermented in old oak barrels, and spending at least three years on lees, often four or five, before release. There’s a pleasing simplicity, even if each vintage brings something unique.
 
First-time tasters are often surprised that The Trouble With Dreams is not showy. It is chiselled, taut, tense – for good reason. I want it to burst with the sort of freshness that makes English fruit, of all kinds, some of the best in the world.
 
I also want it to age. That’s when the real show begins.
 
Ana and I found it rather emotional tasting through our library cellar, deliberating over which wines to re-release to mark 20 years of Sugrue South Downs. This collector's case brings together six of our favourite vintages of The Trouble With Dreams and includes bottles now long sold out on the market: 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, and MV (2021).
 
I hope the next 20 years are as much of an adventure as the last. I still clearly remember soaking the roots of those young Chardonnay and Pinot vines in a trench filled with water under the gaze of the monastery tower, before planting all 4,000 of them in one day in May 2006.
 
I must look up which date it actually was, and raise a glass to my old friend Fr Paul McMahon. "Here’s to the next twenty," I'm sure he'd say.
£350.00
£350.00
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60 CASES AVAILABLE – MAX. 1 PER CUSTOMER

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COLLECTOR'S CASE CONTAINS

  • ONE BOTTLE EACH OF:

    The Trouble With Dreams 2014

    The Trouble With Dreams 2015

    The Trouble With Dreams 2018

    The Trouble With Dreams 2019

    The Trouble With Dreams 2020

    The Trouble With Dreams MV (2021)

  • SCORES

    17.5 Points, JancisRobinson.com

    17.5 Points, JancisRobinson.com

    17.5 Points, JancisRobinson.com

    17.5++ Points, JancisRobinson.com

    17.5 Points, JancisRobinson.com

    17.5 Points, JancisRobinson.com

  • VINTAGE CHART

    2014: Second only to 2009. Outstanding.

    2015: Cool and sunny; ideal for Chardonnay.

    2018: A rich, ripe style for the mid-term.

    2019: Excellent, racy wines for cellaring.

    2020: Warm and dry: very expressive.

    MV (2021): A multi-vintage extravaganza.

FOOD PAIRING

In its youth, pair The Trouble With Dreams with super-fresh seafood – oysters, crab, prawns – eaten by the bucketful, ideally with the sun on your face and looking over the ocean.

As the wine gains complexity and richness with time in bottle, it can then handle bolder dishes. Fish and chips is always a winner, but go as posh as the mood takes you. Sun and sea views optional.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY

“The Trouble With Dreams celebrates the often-conflicting puzzle of passion, restraint; patriotism, rebellion; tradition, modernity; innovation, classicism of this country. Few English wines encapsulate the power of Bollinger, the burnished-metal and density of Krug, the anger and angst of Selosse. This is a dense, pewter-metal-boned, smoke-angry, stunning wine.”

Tamlyn Currin, JancisRobinson.com