The story of the Leonardslee Brut Reserve is essentially a high-stakes, multi-million-pound bet that involved ruining a perfectly good game of golf.

It’s a tale of extreme resilience, severe topographical disruption, and a South African winemaking team arriving in West Sussex to look at a pristine fairway and think, "Yes, but what if we dug it up instead?"

1. The Foundation: From Homelessness to High-End Wine

The story starts with Penny Streeter OBE. Penny’s early life was less "silver spoon" and more "no spoon at all"—at one point, she was living in homeless accommodation with her children. She went on to build a massive nursing recruitment empire, made a fortune, and picked up an OBE along the way.

Most people celebrate hitting it big by buying a nice watch. Penny decided to buy Benguela Cove, a coastal winery in South Africa, in 2013. But apparently, running a vineyard on one continent wasn't stressful enough, so in 2016 she bought the Grade I-listed Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens in West Sussex, which conveniently came with the Mannings Heath Golf Club.

2. The Great Sussex Golf Massacre

Penny brought over her South African "Dream Team"—master winemaker Johann Fourie and viticulturist Barry Anderson. They immediately ignored the golfers, dug up the soil on the golf course, and realized the dirt was mathematically perfect for sparkling wine grapes.

In 2017, they made the incredibly brave choice to evict the back nine holes of the golf course. They ripped up 38 acres of meticulously manicured fairways to plant vines. Local golfers were understandably thrilled to have their tee times replaced by agricultural labor, but the south-facing slopes, protected from the brutal British weather by Leonard’s Forest, were just too good to pass up.

3. The Liquid Assets

The flagship result of this fairway vandalism is the Leonardslee Brut Reserve (specifically the 2021 vintage). It’s a traditional blend that reads like a classic French champagne recipe but with a heavy Sussex accent:

• 70% Chardonnay (the backbone)
• 20% Pinot Noir (the muscle)
• 10% Pinot Meunier (the seasoning)

Because Johann Fourie didn't fly halfway across the world to make boring wine, he fermented 20% of the base wine in French oak and then locked the bottles away for an agonizing 30 months to age on its lees (which is just a fancy winemaking term for "dead yeast cells"). They finally let the public buy it in early 2024.

The Bird on the Bottle: If you look at the label, there’s a Barn Swallow. It’s supposed to look elegant, but it’s actually a visual metaphor for Penny herself, who annually migrates between South Africa and England to avoid experiencing winter in either hemisphere. The four tiny swallows trailing behind represent her four kids, who are presumably dragged along for the ride.

4. The 2025 Accolades (Or, "Told You So")

Despite being squeezed from vines that are technically still in their childhood, the wine world absolutely lost its mind over the 2021 Brut Reserve. During the 2025 awards circuit, it collected accolades like it was trying to make up for the lost golf memberships:

• WineGB Awards 2025: Took home the Best SWGB Wine Trophy (Sustainable Wines of Great Britain), proving you can rip up a golf course and still satisfy the environmentalists.
• Decanter Panel Tasting: Netted a massive 95 points. Critics described it as "hedonistic" and "bready," which sounds like a description of a very aggressive Sunday brunch but is actually high praise.
• World’s Best Vineyards: Vaulted Leonardslee to 56th place globally after just 18 months of commercial release.

It turns out that trading golf clubs for wine bottles was a spectacular piece of business. Just don't ask the local members for a quote.

The story of the Leonardslee Brut Rosé is perhaps the most personal bottle in the entire lineup. It features a fascinating, highly unusual winemaking twist that acts as a direct nod to the family’s South African roots.

If the Brut Reserve is the crowd-pleaser and the Blanc de Blancs is the precision instrument, the Brut Rosé is the "jewel in the crown" that breaks the traditional rules of English sparkling wine.

1. The Secret Weapon: Enter Pinotage

When making a premium sparkling rosé, winemakers almost universally use a combination of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. But Penny Streeter and her team did something unheard of in a commercial English vineyard: they planted a row of Pinotage.

What is Pinotage? It is South Africa’s signature red grape, a bold and earthy cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsaut.

Because Penny also owns Benguela Cove in South Africa, her team wanted to physically weave their heritage into the English soil. The final blend for the benchmark 2021 Vintage is:

• 56% Chardonnay
• 31% Pinot Noir
• 10% Pinotage (The unique twist)
• 3% Pinot Meunier

The tiny 10% splash of Pinotage completely transforms the wine's profile, injecting a rich, distinct crimson-fruit complexity and a slight structure that you rarely find in standard English rosés.

2. A Chaotic Sussex Spring, A Miraculous September

The story of the 2021 vintage was a true test of nerve for viticulturist Barry Anderson. The season started with terrifying spring frosts that threatened to wipe out the young, fragile buds.

However, nature flipped the script. A warm late spring was followed by an unexpected heatwave in September. The grapes ripened so rapidly that Leonardslee underwent the earliest harvest in its short history, bringing in fruit that was exceptionally clean and packed with natural sugars.

3. The Craft: Taming the Acid

To ensure the wine had a soft, luxurious mouthfeel rather than a harsh, sharp bite, winemaker Johann Fourie allowed the juice to undergo full malolactic fermentation to soften the acidity.

They then put the wine through a patient 36 months (3 years) of aging on its lees in the bottle. This time in the cellar is what gives the wine its striking "rose gold" color and a soft, fine mousse (the texture of the bubbles).

The flavor profile is incredibly distinct—moving away from just basic berries into complex aromas of Turkish Delight, wild strawberries, and a slightly savory, biscuit finish.