The Dowager Countess of Grantham may still be trying to figure out what a “week-end” is, but the rest of us already know what’s going to be filling out glasses come the next day off: A new collection of Downton Abbey wines has just arrived. Made by Lot18 in conjunction with NBCUniversal and Focus Features, the wine collection, which comprises a red Bordeaux, a white Bordeaux, and a sparkling rosé, celebrates the upcoming release of the big screen Downton Abbey movie — and I, for one, am ready to raise a toast to everything about that.
Lot18 and its wine club/online storefront, Tasting Room, are no strangers to pop culture-inspired wine; other varieties that are still available in the Tasting Room bottle shop include bottles which take their cues from properties like Assassin’s Creed, The Lord of the Rings, Outlander, and The Walking Dead. Nor is this the first time Downton Abbey has lent its identity to a bottle or two of wine: The Downton Abbey Collection of wines debuted in 2013 — right when the show was at its height — before receiving an expansion in 2015. The Downton Abbey Collection, however, was distributed by LCF Wines, so we’re looking at something new with the just-released Lot18 collection.
Lot18's collection features just three wines; however, those three wines — a red, a white, and a rosé — cover a fairly broad range of tastes and preferences. According to a press release provided to Bustle, the grapes used in the 2018 Downton Abbey Bordeaux Rouge come from Château Haute Courtiade vines that are more than 30 years old. Co-fermented and aged in both stainless steel and French oak barriques — a type of wine barrel which originated in Bordeaux and typically holds around 225 liters — the red is “elegant and rich,” with its aromas including fruits like blackberry and blackcurrant. The 2018 Bordeaux Blanc, meanwhile, is made from sauvingnon blanc grapes and includes notes of white grapefruit, lemon, and lemongrass. It also has a minerality to it which leads to a “crisp, dry finish.” And lastly, there’s the Downtown Abbey Sparkling Rosé, which comes from the oldest sparkling wine company in France’s Val de Loire. Fruity and pink, it features notes of raspberry, strawberry, and florals, with a citrusy finish a “crisp and effervescent” bubbles.
If you want to give these wines a shot, though, you’ll only be able to get them in a couple of places: They’ll be available exclusively in-store at select World Market locations, as well as online at Lot18’s Tasting Room. The thing with the Tasting Room, though, is that you have to be a member of the wine club in order to be eligible for purchase of individual bottles through the Tasting Room bottle shop, according to Tasting Room’s FAQ. But hey, if you don't want to join and you have a World Market somewhere near you, you can always give that location a call and see if they’ve got the new Downtown Abbey wines in stock instead. Find your nearest World Market store here.
Downton Abbey officially hits cinemas in the United States on Sept. 20. Picking up where the six-season television series left off, the film sees the Crawleys and their staff, now in 1927, preparing for a visit from the Royal Family — a visit which will, it seems, “unleash scandal, romance, and intrigue that will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance,” per its official synopsis. Much of the original cast and creative has returned — and fans, no doubt, can’t wait to see what the denizens of Downton have been up to lately. Catch the trailer here.
