In the latest episode of The Drinking Hour podcast, David Kermode heads to Chilham in Kent to meet with Patrick McGrath MW, co-founder of Domaine Evremond.
In 2015, Champagne Taittinger announced that they would be partnering with the UK-based importer Hatch Mansfield to open a brand new winery in Kent. The news attracted much global attention, as Taittinger was the first Champagne house to announce its investment in English wine. Feeling like a vote of confidence in England, Taittinger and Hatch Mansfield set out to create a wine that expressed the excellence of the area’s terroir.
In episode 216, McGrath speaks about Hatch Mansfield’s longstanding relationship with Taittinger and Domaine Evremond’s journey from acquiring its first plot in 2015 to releasing its first wine, Domaine Evremond Classic Cuvée Edition I, a decade later. Kermode visits the newly opened winery, just 15 miles west of Canterbury, to sample the wine and tour the spectacular facilities.
Actively deciding not to include the Taittinger name in the wine’s branding, McGrath reveals how the Champagne house wanted Evremond’s wine to stand on its own two feet. In turn, Kermode gets historical and learns about Charles de Saint-Evremond, the Frenchman exiled to England in the seventeenth century, who inspired the name of the estate.
Discover more episodes of The Drinking Hour with David Kermode here
