Trevor Clough and Jason Humphries launched the first Digby wines for sale in 2013, having swapped the corporate grind of London for English wine country. Impelled to give English sparkling wine the same fanfare as its international counterparts – both Old World and New – their dream is to put England resolutely on the oenological map and become the country’s leading blending house.
With excellence as a prerequisite, Clough and Humphries developed a method of ranking England’s burgeoning vineyards to find the finest grapes going, carefully building their grower portfolio across the southeast. Their house blending style celebrates the satisfying sharpness of our English fruit whilst bringing a sumptuous texture and roundness to the wines through long ageing; “sophisticated yet racy,” they like to call it.
In 2021, Clough and Humphries acquired their best Pinot Noir site, Digby’s Hilden Vineyard, and their dedication to the maturation process was solidified in 2022 on securing their own winery space in Madehurst, West Sussex.
Their quest to give English sparkling wine its due recognition has been promising from the start, with countless top scores, trophy wins and an early vintage of Digby’s flagship style beating Krug and Dom Pérignon in a ‘Judgement of Paris’ inspired tasting known as the ‘Judgement of London’ with Stephen Spurrier in 2017. Their wines have appeared in Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Fortnum & Mason and in the air on the British Airways Club World menu. In 2020, Digby Fine English became the official English sparkling wine supplier to the House of Commons gift shops with a special edition of the 2013 Vintage Reserve Brut.
Clough is CEO and Head Blender of Digby Fine English, while Humphries remains a Non-Executive Director. They live in West Sussex.
