Wine from the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Wine from the United Kingdom is generally classified as either English wine or Welsh wine, with reference to England or Wales as its respective origin. The term British wine is generally used for fermented imported grape juice or concentrate that can originate from anywhere in the world, and so is not used for wine
in the usual sense. Traditionally seen as struggling with an unhelpfully cold climate, the English and Welsh wine industry has been helped by the warmer British summers over recent years and it is speculated that global warming
may encourage major growth in the future. However no evidence of earlier crops has yet been produced to substantiate this.
The United Kingdom is a major consumer, but only a very minor producer of wine, with English and Welsh wine sales combined accounting for just 1% of the domestic market.
In recent years, English sparkling wine
has started to emerge as the UK wine style receiving the most attention. Theale Vineyard Sparkling Chardonnay 2003 beat off stiff competition from fine Champagnes and top sparkling wines to make it into the world’s Top Ten Sparkling Wine at the world’s only dedicated sparkling wine competition, French-based Effervescents du Monde (sparkling wines of the world) 2007.
in Kent
, has the biggest winery and produces more wine, and will soon overtake Denbies.
Two notable English Vineyards, The Three Choirs Vineyards, in Gloucestershire
, set in 70 acres (283,280.2 m²) of countryside and is one of England's leading wine award winners. Sharpham Vineyard
in Devon
mixes a range of traditional and new world techniques to create their crisp taste in their white wines. Yearlstone Vineyard near Exeter has won many awards and at 37 years old is one of England's oldest surviving vineyards.
"English wine" is also a common generic term used in India meaning "Western spirits".
, planned to produce a white Riesling
wine in 2010 to serve his hotel guests.It would be the first wine produced in Scotland in commercial quantities. Gottens had planted 48 vines as an experiment in 2006, and planned to expand this to 800. Gottens said: “Cold is not the problem, the lack of sunshine is our biggest problem. If the wine is fit for consumption it will be served by the glass with our food. If it's not good enough we can make it into vinegar.”
.
introduced wine making to the United Kingdom, and even tried to grow grapes as far north as Lincolnshire
. It was successfully done till the cooling in the 800s although the remnants of this can still be seen to this day in the city of Lincoln in the gardens of the medieval Bishop's Palace. Winemaking
continued at least down to the time of the Normans
with over 40 vineyard
s in England mentioned in the Domesday Book
, although much of what was being produced was for making communion wine for the Eucharist
.
From the Middle Ages, the English market was the main customer of claret
s from Bordeaux
, France, helped by the Plantagenet kingdom, which included England and large provinces in France. In the 18th century, the Methuen Treaty
of 1703 imposed high duties on French wine. This led to the English becoming a main consumer of sweet fortified wine
s like sherry
, port wine
, and Madeira wine
from Spain
and Portugal
. Fortified wine became popular because unlike regular wine, it does not spoil after the long journey from Portugal to England.
When Henry VIII came into power in 1509, 139 vineyards were recorded, 11 of which produced as Royal vineyards, dedicated to the monarchy.
Just as English wine began to recover from the epidemics of Phylloxera and Powdery Mildew in the mid 19th Century, brought back with the Explorers of New America, commercial English wine was dealt a heavy blow. In 1860 the government, under Lord Palmerston (Liberal) supported free trade and drastically cut the tax on imported wines from 1 shilling to 2 pence, a decrease of 83%. English wine was therefore out-competed by superior foreign products that could be sold at a lower cost to the customer. The twilight of British winemaking tradition, which stretched back to the very first Roman explorers, was brought to an end with the onset of the First World War, as need for crops and food prioritised over wine production. The rationing of sugar pushed the knife even deeper until, for the first time in 2000 years, English wines were no longer being produced in either Wessex, nor the rest of the country.
Later in the 19th century, many upper and upper-middle class people started to drink wines from many parts of Europe like France
, Spain
, Italy
and Germany
.
It was not until 1936, that George Ordish planted vines in Wessex and the South of England, bringing about a voyage of rediscovery for English wines and wine making. With many individuals keen to produce their own wines from home, and with equipment and methods becoming more available, the government outlawed the production of homemade alcohol at the beginning of the 1960s, only to retract the law after 5 years as the homebrew fashion escalated considerably. After a lull in the 80s and 90s, homebrewing is coming back, with many small and established brew shops seeing a rise in sales and increased interest through Internet sales. A great number of books and recipes are now readily and freely available and as the recession hit hard in the UK in 2008, more and more people, young and old are turning to traditional methods of wine and beer production.
and Hock
that were popular in the 1970s, and were blended white and red sweet wines, called cream wine (creams). The largest vineyard in England is Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey
, which has 265 acres (1.1 km²) under vines, and a visitors' centre that is open all year round.
The growth of English wine has had its ups and downs since then. A peak of over 400 vineyards was reached in the late 1980s. By 2000 one third of these had given up . Plantings accelerated in the last decade, helped by the growing success of English sparkling wines, led by Nyetimber. In 2004 a panel judging European sparkling wines awarded most of the top ten positions to English wines - the remaining positions going to French Champagnes. Similar results have encouraged an explosion of sparkling wine plantings. English still wines too have begun to pick up awards at most big wine competitions, notably Decanter, and the IWSC.
Winemaking has spread from the South East and South West and also to the Midlands and the north of England, with Yorkshire
, Shropshire
, Derbyshire
, Leicestershire
and Lancashire
boasting at least one vineyard each as of 2007.
might yield 3 tonnes per acre at around £120 per tonne. Growing grapes could yield 3 to 4 tonnes per acre at around £950 to £1100 per tonne. One concern is that growers need to invest money for no initial return, as crops tend to come in the third or fourth year. Another concern is that grape production in the climate is highly variable: "In England, it is only in about 2 years in every 10 that grape production will be really good, 4 years will be average and 4 years poor or terrible - largely due to weather and/or disease exacerbated by weather." However English vineyards share in common European weather patterns so 2006 was a bumper year, 2007 saw ripe grapes but low volumes, 2008 was very poor, but both 2009 and 2010 were good years. Total British cereal production is not so variable.
Another explanation for the growth in viticulture in the UK is the local food
movement, and the desire by consumers to cut the amount of food miles
connected with the produce that they buy, including locally produced wine.
On March 1, 2011 a website was launched to act as a platform for those involved in the professional production of wine in England and Wales. ukvine.com was the brainchild of James Graham and Daniel Manning, both of whom felt the industry had reached a tipping point in terms of value, volume and interest. The site acts as a platform for news and feature copy relevant to all sectors of the industry: growers, producers, retailers, the on-trade and off-trade and the consumer. Initial reaction to the site has been strong and favourable.
It was an outstanding year for English and Welsh wines at the International Wine Challenge (IWC) 2011 as organisers revealed the results on the first day of the London International Wine Fair (LIWF). Wales celebrated a Silver medal while 66 English wines from 22 vineyards picked up awards or were commended.
Two Gold medals awarded to two English vineyards made the national headlines while a Silver medal for the Parva Farm vineyard’s Tintern Parva Bacchus 2009 went back to the principality. Fourteen other wines won Silver medals while 20 won Bronze medals. Commendations were given to 30 wines.
Denbies Wine Estate’s Chalk Ridge Rosé 2010 was the only still Rosé to win a 2011 Gold Medal and Chapel Down was awarded a Gold Medal for its sparkling Rosé Vintage Reserve Brut NV.
is likely to be in excess of 1500 HA by 2012.
As of 2004, Seyval Blanc
was the most grown variety, with Reichensteiner
next, with Müller-Thurgau
and then Bacchus following closely behind. However, Müller-Thurgau, which was one of the first to be grown during the 20th century renaissance (see below), has recently lost favour, dropping from 134.64 ha
(1st) in 1996 to 81.1 ha (3rd) in 2004. Other widely grown varieties of white grape include Chardonnay
, Madeleine Angevine
, Schönburger
, Huxelrebe
and Ortega
. Red varieties include Dornfelder
, Pinot meunier
and Pinot Noir
, and a few others, but red grapes tend to be lesser grown, with 20184 hL
of white wine and only 5083 hL of red wine made in 2006.
Supermarkets tend to sell all wines at the market rate irrespective of their country of origin.
Currently, most English wines have a £7 - £12 pricetag, with Sparkling wines likely to cost up to as much as £45. However there are still several small vineyards around the country that continue to produce on a small scale, sourcing local markets and farm shops, where you can expect to pay as little as £6 for a bottle.
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
in the usual sense. Traditionally seen as struggling with an unhelpfully cold climate, the English and Welsh wine industry has been helped by the warmer British summers over recent years and it is speculated that global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
may encourage major growth in the future. However no evidence of earlier crops has yet been produced to substantiate this.
The United Kingdom is a major consumer, but only a very minor producer of wine, with English and Welsh wine sales combined accounting for just 1% of the domestic market.
In recent years, English sparkling wine
Sparkling wine
Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it making it fizzy. The carbon dioxide may result from natural fermentation, either in a bottle, as with the méthode champenoise, in a large tank designed to withstand the pressures involved , or as a result of carbon dioxide...
has started to emerge as the UK wine style receiving the most attention. Theale Vineyard Sparkling Chardonnay 2003 beat off stiff competition from fine Champagnes and top sparkling wines to make it into the world’s Top Ten Sparkling Wine at the world’s only dedicated sparkling wine competition, French-based Effervescents du Monde (sparkling wines of the world) 2007.
English wine
The limestone soils of Kent and other portions of southern England are suitable for growing the grapes used to produce sparkling wine, and particularly on south-facing slopes, the climate, at least in recent years, is warm enough. At the last official count, the Wine Standards Board reported that there were just over 350 vineyards producing wine throughout England. The largest of these is Denbies Vineyard in Surrey which, as of mid-2007, has 265 acres (1.1 km²) of vines, although Chapel Down Wines near TenterdenTenterden
Tenterden is a Cinque Port town in the Ashford District of Kent, England. It stands on the edge of the Weald, overlooking the valley of the River Rother....
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, has the biggest winery and produces more wine, and will soon overtake Denbies.
Two notable English Vineyards, The Three Choirs Vineyards, in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, set in 70 acres (283,280.2 m²) of countryside and is one of England's leading wine award winners. Sharpham Vineyard
Sharpham Vineyard
Sharpham Vineyard is located near the town of Totnes, sat in the hamlet of Ashprington, and produces mainly dry whites from the cool climate grape Madeleine Angevine. Like the majority of English vineyards, it is open for tasting in the winery and tours of the vineyard...
in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
mixes a range of traditional and new world techniques to create their crisp taste in their white wines. Yearlstone Vineyard near Exeter has won many awards and at 37 years old is one of England's oldest surviving vineyards.
"English wine" is also a common generic term used in India meaning "Western spirits".
Welsh wine
According to the Wine Standards Board, there are currently 17 operational vineyards in Wales.Scottish wine
Chef Peter Gottgens, owner of the Ardeonaig Hotel in PerthshirePerthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
, planned to produce a white Riesling
Riesling
Riesling is a white grape variety which originated in the Rhine region of Germany. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines. Riesling wines are usually varietally...
wine in 2010 to serve his hotel guests.It would be the first wine produced in Scotland in commercial quantities. Gottens had planted 48 vines as an experiment in 2006, and planned to expand this to 800. Gottens said: “Cold is not the problem, the lack of sunshine is our biggest problem. If the wine is fit for consumption it will be served by the glass with our food. If it's not good enough we can make it into vinegar.”
'British Wine'
The term British wine is commonly used to describe a drink which is made in Britain by fermenting imported grape juice or concentrate that can originate from anywhere in the world. The most common style is a medium or sweet high-strength wine that is similar to sherrySherry
Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez , Spain. In Spanish, it is called vino de Jerez....
.
Roman to 19th century
The RomansAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
introduced wine making to the United Kingdom, and even tried to grow grapes as far north as Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
. It was successfully done till the cooling in the 800s although the remnants of this can still be seen to this day in the city of Lincoln in the gardens of the medieval Bishop's Palace. Winemaking
Winemaking
Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material...
continued at least down to the time of the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
with over 40 vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
s in England mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, although much of what was being produced was for making communion wine for the Eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
.
From the Middle Ages, the English market was the main customer of claret
Claret
Claret is a name primarily used in British English for red wine from the Bordeaux region of France.-Usage:Claret derives from the French clairet, a now uncommon dark rosé and the most common wine exported from Bordeaux until the 18th century...
s from Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, France, helped by the Plantagenet kingdom, which included England and large provinces in France. In the 18th century, the Methuen Treaty
Methuen Treaty
The Methuen Treaty was an offensive military and commercial treaty between Portugal and England signed in 1703 as part of the War of the Spanish Succession....
of 1703 imposed high duties on French wine. This led to the English becoming a main consumer of sweet fortified wine
Fortified wine
Fortified wine is wine to which a distilled beverage has been added. Fortified wine is distinguished from spirits made from wine in that spirits are produced by means of distillation, while fortified wine is simply wine that has had a spirit added to it...
s like sherry
Sherry
Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez , Spain. In Spanish, it is called vino de Jerez....
, port wine
Port wine
Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...
, and Madeira wine
Madeira wine
Madeira is a fortified Portuguese wine made in the Madeira Islands. Some wines produced in small quantities in California and Texas are also referred to as "Madeira", or "Madera", although those wines do not conform to the EU PDO regulations...
from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. Fortified wine became popular because unlike regular wine, it does not spoil after the long journey from Portugal to England.
When Henry VIII came into power in 1509, 139 vineyards were recorded, 11 of which produced as Royal vineyards, dedicated to the monarchy.
Just as English wine began to recover from the epidemics of Phylloxera and Powdery Mildew in the mid 19th Century, brought back with the Explorers of New America, commercial English wine was dealt a heavy blow. In 1860 the government, under Lord Palmerston (Liberal) supported free trade and drastically cut the tax on imported wines from 1 shilling to 2 pence, a decrease of 83%. English wine was therefore out-competed by superior foreign products that could be sold at a lower cost to the customer. The twilight of British winemaking tradition, which stretched back to the very first Roman explorers, was brought to an end with the onset of the First World War, as need for crops and food prioritised over wine production. The rationing of sugar pushed the knife even deeper until, for the first time in 2000 years, English wines were no longer being produced in either Wessex, nor the rest of the country.
Later in the 19th century, many upper and upper-middle class people started to drink wines from many parts of Europe like France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
It was not until 1936, that George Ordish planted vines in Wessex and the South of England, bringing about a voyage of rediscovery for English wines and wine making. With many individuals keen to produce their own wines from home, and with equipment and methods becoming more available, the government outlawed the production of homemade alcohol at the beginning of the 1960s, only to retract the law after 5 years as the homebrew fashion escalated considerably. After a lull in the 80s and 90s, homebrewing is coming back, with many small and established brew shops seeing a rise in sales and increased interest through Internet sales. A great number of books and recipes are now readily and freely available and as the recession hit hard in the UK in 2008, more and more people, young and old are turning to traditional methods of wine and beer production.
20th century
Viticulture was revived in the 1970s onwards. The first English wines were influenced by the sweet German wines like LiebfraumilchLiebfraumilch
Liebfraumilch or Liebfraunmilch is a style of semi-sweet white German wine which may be produced, mostly for export, in the regions Rheinhessen, Palatinate, Rheingau and Nahe. The name is a German word literally meaning "Beloved lady's milk"...
and Hock
Hock (wine)
Hock is an English term for German wine, sometimes wine from the Rhine regions and sometimes all German wine. It is short for the now obsolete word hockamore. The term is a corruption of the name of the German town of Hochheim on the Main river in the Rheingau wine region...
that were popular in the 1970s, and were blended white and red sweet wines, called cream wine (creams). The largest vineyard in England is Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, which has 265 acres (1.1 km²) under vines, and a visitors' centre that is open all year round.
The growth of English wine has had its ups and downs since then. A peak of over 400 vineyards was reached in the late 1980s. By 2000 one third of these had given up . Plantings accelerated in the last decade, helped by the growing success of English sparkling wines, led by Nyetimber. In 2004 a panel judging European sparkling wines awarded most of the top ten positions to English wines - the remaining positions going to French Champagnes. Similar results have encouraged an explosion of sparkling wine plantings. English still wines too have begun to pick up awards at most big wine competitions, notably Decanter, and the IWSC.
Winemaking has spread from the South East and South West and also to the Midlands and the north of England, with Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
and Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
boasting at least one vineyard each as of 2007.
21st century
Significant plantings have been happening across the south of the country with a number of farmers contract growing vines for some of the major English producers. Farmers are looking at the potential benefits of growing vines as the return per tonne for grapes over more traditional crops are not to be ignored. A field of wheatWheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
might yield 3 tonnes per acre at around £120 per tonne. Growing grapes could yield 3 to 4 tonnes per acre at around £950 to £1100 per tonne. One concern is that growers need to invest money for no initial return, as crops tend to come in the third or fourth year. Another concern is that grape production in the climate is highly variable: "In England, it is only in about 2 years in every 10 that grape production will be really good, 4 years will be average and 4 years poor or terrible - largely due to weather and/or disease exacerbated by weather." However English vineyards share in common European weather patterns so 2006 was a bumper year, 2007 saw ripe grapes but low volumes, 2008 was very poor, but both 2009 and 2010 were good years. Total British cereal production is not so variable.
Another explanation for the growth in viticulture in the UK is the local food
Local food
Local food or the local food movement is a "collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies - one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution, and consumption is integrated to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of a particular...
movement, and the desire by consumers to cut the amount of food miles
Food miles
Food miles is a term which refers to the distance food is transported from the time of its production until it reaches the consumer. Food miles are one factor used when assessing the environmental impact of food, including the impact on global warming....
connected with the produce that they buy, including locally produced wine.
On March 1, 2011 a website was launched to act as a platform for those involved in the professional production of wine in England and Wales. ukvine.com was the brainchild of James Graham and Daniel Manning, both of whom felt the industry had reached a tipping point in terms of value, volume and interest. The site acts as a platform for news and feature copy relevant to all sectors of the industry: growers, producers, retailers, the on-trade and off-trade and the consumer. Initial reaction to the site has been strong and favourable.
It was an outstanding year for English and Welsh wines at the International Wine Challenge (IWC) 2011 as organisers revealed the results on the first day of the London International Wine Fair (LIWF). Wales celebrated a Silver medal while 66 English wines from 22 vineyards picked up awards or were commended.
Two Gold medals awarded to two English vineyards made the national headlines while a Silver medal for the Parva Farm vineyard’s Tintern Parva Bacchus 2009 went back to the principality. Fourteen other wines won Silver medals while 20 won Bronze medals. Commendations were given to 30 wines.
Denbies Wine Estate’s Chalk Ridge Rosé 2010 was the only still Rosé to win a 2011 Gold Medal and Chapel Down was awarded a Gold Medal for its sparkling Rosé Vintage Reserve Brut NV.
Grape varieties
According to the English Wine Producers over 1300 HA had been planted by 2009, and with further major plantings of sparkling wine varieties the totalis likely to be in excess of 1500 HA by 2012.
As of 2004, Seyval Blanc
Seyval Blanc
Seyval Blanc is a hybrid wine grape variety used to make white wines. Its vines ripen early, are productive and are suited to fairly cool climates.Seyval Blanc is grown mainly in England, and the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, as well as to a lesser extent in Canada...
was the most grown variety, with Reichensteiner
Reichensteiner
Reichensteiner is a white wine grape that is mainly grown in Germany) and England), although New Zealand also grows a small quantity. It is a cross between Müller-Thurgau and Madeleine Angevine x Calabreser Froehlich, and was first bred in Germany during 1939.In England, it is the 2nd most grown...
next, with Müller-Thurgau
Müller-Thurgau
Müller-Thurgau is a variety of white grape which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine Royale. It is used to make white wine in Germany, Austria, Northern Italy, Hungary, England, in Australia, Czech Republic, Slovakia,...
and then Bacchus following closely behind. However, Müller-Thurgau, which was one of the first to be grown during the 20th century renaissance (see below), has recently lost favour, dropping from 134.64 ha
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
(1st) in 1996 to 81.1 ha (3rd) in 2004. Other widely grown varieties of white grape include Chardonnay
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...
, Madeleine Angevine
Madeleine Angevine
Madeleine Angevine is a white wine grape from the Loire Valley in France that is also popular in the United Kingdom, Germany, Kyrgyzstan and Washington State.. The early-ripening grape is a cross between Madeleine Royale and Précoce de Malingre grapes and is a riesling-type that grows well in...
, Schönburger
Schönburger
Schönburger, also spelled Schoenburger, or Schonburger is a variety of grape, formally designated Geisenheim 15-114, a crossing developed at Geisenheim Institute for Grape Breeding in Germany, and released in 1979, of Pinot Noir x .It is grown now in Germany, as well as in England where it is...
, Huxelrebe
Huxelrebe
Huxelrebe is a white grape used for wine. Huxelrebe is primarily found in Germany, where the cultivated area covered in 2006, with a decreasing trend. It is primarily found in the German wine regions Rheinhessen, Palatinate and Nahe. Small plantations are also found in England.- Properties...
and Ortega
Ortega (grape)
Ortega is a grape variety used for white wine. It was created in 1948 by Hans Breider at the Bayerischen Landesanstalt für Wein-, Obst- und Gartenbau in Würzburg and was released with varietal protection in 1981. It is a cross between Müller-Thurgau and Siegerrebe...
. Red varieties include Dornfelder
Dornfelder
Dornfelder is a dark-skinned variety of grape of German origin used for red wine. It was created by August Herold at the grape breeding institute in Weinsberg in the Württemberg region in 1955. Herold crossed the grape varieties Helfensteiner and Heroldrebe, the latter which bears his name, to...
, Pinot meunier
Pinot meunier
Pinot Meunier, , also known as Meunier or Black Riesling, is a variety of black wine grape most noted for being one of the three main grapes used in the production of champagne...
and Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir
Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...
, and a few others, but red grapes tend to be lesser grown, with 20184 hL
Litre
pic|200px|right|thumb|One litre is equivalent to this cubeEach side is 10 cm1 litre water = 1 kilogram water The litre is a metric system unit of volume equal to 1 cubic decimetre , to 1,000 cubic centimetres , and to 1/1,000 cubic metre...
of white wine and only 5083 hL of red wine made in 2006.
Effect of the British economy
Most of the wine consumed in Britain is imported from other countries. Now that English wine is being produced in larger quantities, more people in the British Isles are buying it as opposed to imported wines. The quantities produced are tiny compared to the volumes consumed, less than 1% according to DEFRA. In 2008 1.34 million, in 2009 3.17 million and 2010 4 million bottles of English wine were produced.Supermarkets tend to sell all wines at the market rate irrespective of their country of origin.
Currently, most English wines have a £7 - £12 pricetag, with Sparkling wines likely to cost up to as much as £45. However there are still several small vineyards around the country that continue to produce on a small scale, sourcing local markets and farm shops, where you can expect to pay as little as £6 for a bottle.
Rules of wine labelling
There are several official categories of wine in the UK.PDO, Protected Denomination of Origin is the top category, PGI, Protected Geographical Indication is next and then varietal wine. PDO & PGI wines must have a full post bottling analysis and pass a tasting panel ( or win an award at a recognised competition )External links
- Wine Standards Board
- English Wine Producers - The Marketing Association of the English Wine Industry
- ukvine The dedicated website for the professional English and Welsh wine industry