Litmus Element 20 Chardonnay Bacchus 2013 Surrey, England 75cl

Litmus Wines is the personal project of the winemaking team based at Denbies in Surrey, led by the well-travelled winemaker John Worontschak. It is where they experiment and push English wine forward, taking on both their own bottlings and contract work for other estates, and Element 20 was the label’s very first release.

The name is a nod to calcium, the twentieth element on the periodic table, and to the chalk that runs through the Surrey vineyards and shapes the wine. This bottling blends Chardonnay with Bacchus and is barrel-fermented and aged on its lees, a more serious, textural take on English white that has evolved in its make-up over the years.

The 2013 is now a mature English white, and the extra years have drawn out a richer, more developed character than its fresh, youthful cousins show in their first flush.

Expect a complex glass of honey, citrus curd and savoury, nutty development, with the oak and lees work adding weight and a long, dry finish. Give it a little time out of the fridge to open up, as the aromatics reward a slightly warmer glass. It suits roast chicken, creamy sauces or a mature hard cheese.

Rated 91 points and awarded 17 out of 20 by Jancis Robinson, it is a wine for the confident drinker keen to see how far English Chardonnay can go. A natural step on from a lightly oaked white Burgundy, and quiet proof of how well the best English still whites can age when given a few years in bottle.