Wine from the United Kingdom

English wine

A bottle of sparkling rosé from Fenny Castle in Somerset

The limestone soils (technically chalk) of Sussex, 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.^[1] At the last official count, the Wine Standards Board reported that there were just over 450 vineyards producing wine throughout England.^[2] The largest of these is Denbies Vineyard in Surrey which, as of mid-2007, has 265 acres (1.07 km²) of vines, although Chapel Down Wines near Tenterden in Kent, has the biggest winery and produces more wine, and will soon overtake Denbies. "English wine" is also a common generic term used in India meaning "Western spirits". The most northerly commercially producing vineyard is in Leeds, Yorkshire.^[3]

Welsh wine

Welsh vineyards were first planted by Romans, but in the 1970s, modern vineyards were planted in South Wales with the intention of creating Welsh wine. Despite a slow start, by 2005 Wales had 20 vineyards, producing 100,000 bottles a year, primarily white wines, but also a few reds.^[4][5]

According to the Wine Standards Board, by September 2015, there were 22 operational vineyards in Wales.^[6]

Scottish wine

The most northerly grape vine of the UK is grown in a polytunnel on the island of Unst, Shetland - the most northerly of the Shetland isles. Unfortunately the label is lost but the vine produces many bunches of small green grapes every year and by leaving them as long as possible (September/October) they are usually sweet enough to eat straight from the bunch. The majority are turned into grape jelly.

British wine

The term British wine is used to describe a drink made in Britain by the fermentation of grape (or any other fruit) juice or concentrate originating from anywhere in the world. It cannot be used for wine in the legal sense, which must be produced from freshly pressed grapes. The most common style is a medium or sweet high-strength wine that is similar to sherry,^[7] and was formerly known as British Sherry.

Roman era to 19th century

The Romans introduced winemaking to England, and even tried to grow grapes as far north as Lincolnshire. Winemaking continued at least down to the time of the Normans, with over 40 vineyards 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 clarets 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 wines like sherry, port wine, and Madeira wine from Spain and Portugal. Fortified wine became popular because unlike regular wine, it did not spoil after the long journey from Portugal to England.

When Henry VIII was crowned in 1509, 139 vineyards were recorded, 11 of which produced as Royal vineyards, dedicated to the monarchy.

In the 1660s Lady Batten, wife of Sir William Batten, Surveyor of the Navy, had a vineyard at their estate at Walthamstow; Samuel Pepys thought the wine (which was red) "very good".^[8]

Just as English wine began to recover from the epidemics of phylloxera and powdery mildew in the mid-19th century, brought back by 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 twopence, a decrease of 83%. English wine was therefore outcompeted 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 first Roman explorers, was brought to an end with the onset of the First World War, as the need for crops and food took priority 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 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 winemaking. 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 five years as the homebrew fashion escalated considerably. After a lull in the 1980s and 1990s, 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

The effective start of English wine (in the post-monastic era) can be traced to 1952 when English viticulture pioneer John Edginton (born 1936) planted his first experimental commercial grape vines at Lackham College in Lacock, Wiltshire. These vines still exist to this day and are believed to be the oldest surviving commercial wine grapes in the UK.

For the next ten years, Edginton continued to experiment with training and pruning systems, as well as vine varieties experimenting with new cutting edge hybrid varieties and turning those grapes into palatable wine.

By 1962, Edginton had planted an experimental vineyard of half an acre of new advanced hybrid varieties of Müller, Reichensteiner and Seyval grapes, believed to be the oldest surviving examples of these variants in the UK. This vineyard at Teffont in Wiltshire, later joined by Awbridge and Dinton in Hampshire, still produces wine grapes, and Edginton continues to pioneer viticulture and winemaking.

Other small commercial vineyards in Britain followed in the 1960s with growers such as Joy and Trevor Bates in Kent, Norman Cowderoy in West Sussex, Nigel Godden in Somerset, Gillian Pearkes in Devon and Philip Tyson-Woodcock in East Sussex. Wales also had George Jones, Lewis Mathias and Margaret Gore-Browne.^[9]

Viticulture was revived in the 1970s onwards, possibly helped by a rising local temperature due to global warming, making many parts of Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, Essex, Suffolk, Berkshire and Cambridgeshire dry and hot enough to grow grapes of high quality. The first English wines were influenced by the sweet German wines like Liebfraumilch 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 (1.07 km²) under vines, and a visitors' centre that is open all year round.

From a peak of over 400 vineyards in the late 1980s, by 2000 one third of these had given up, but plantings have since accelerated, helped by the growing success of English sparkling wines. 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 North of England, with Yorkshire, Shropshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lancashire 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 wheat 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. 2011 was average, 2012 dreadful, and 2013 good.^[10] Total British cereal production is not so variable.^[11]

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.

English wine was given added prestige when HRH the Duchess of Cornwall became the new President of the United Kingdom Vineyards Association on 25 July 2011.^[12]

In June 2012 there was also a boost for English wine during the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.^[13]

Greenhouse table and wine varieties

Cheap coal, glass and labour meant that the wealthy could easily maintain heated greenhouses throughout the year during the 19th century. During this period many grape varieties were grown under glass, with one of the most popular varieties being Black Hamburg.

However, a number of seedlings arose accidentally or through careful breeding that were propagated for eating or wine. Most of them barely survive, but some such as Foster's seedling are still available.^[17]