English vineyard owners embarked on the first day of the harvesting season yesterday as wine experts suggest a sharp rise in the volume of home-grown wine production over the coming six years.
Luckily the dreary summer has not blighted the crop, as that glorious two weeks during Wimbledon ensured the vines got all the sun they needed as it happened to coincide with the flowering period.
Britain currently has around wine-growers who are predicted to produce in the region of three million bottles of both still and sparkling wine.
However, clearly the Brits have a way to catch up with France’s well seasoned industry, which on average turns out a whopping eight billion bottles of plonk a year.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have reported that the amount of land used to produce wine has risen by 45 per cent since 2005 with now around 1,106 hectares being used to grow the grapes.English
The English Wine Producers association estimate that by 2015 British output of the hangover producing stuff will reach closer to 5.6 million bottles - of which 3.7 million expected to be of the fizzy variety.
Stuart Smith, who owns Ryedale Vineyards in Westow near York - the furthest north of all England’s vineyards, said that his output this year was expected to be 3,000 bottles of white and rose - compared to the 450 bottles he made last year - and just to be extra ambitious he hopes to be producing closer to 20,000 a year in the next five years.
He said, “We’re a relatively new vineyard, last year was our first crop. This year we’ve had particularly good weather - the heat in June brought the vines into flower quite early and we missed much of the wet weather in July. We had some rain, but it wasn’t too bad.”
“In general, the climate is warming, making it possible to grow grapes in the south of England and increasingly further north.”
the owner’s team of dedicated staff have begun picking the premature black grapes, which will carry on for a further month across both his vineyards which hold 10,000 vines.
He added, “There is a tremendous loyalty to Yorkshire produce and we are tapping into that. With the quality, people come back for more. There is a much greater demand for local food and drink than there has been for a long time.”
Frazer Thompson, CEO of Chapel Down Wines, based near Tenterden, Kent, the country’s biggest producer of English wines, said home-grown wines were slowly being recognised for their quality overseas.
He said, “English wine, especially our sparkling wine, has become an international force to be reckoned with. It has become something people drink through choice and not just patriotism.
“Our fizz regularly beats traditional champagnes at international competitions. English wine has become desirable not just here but in the US, Hong Kong and Japan.
“Our biggest problem up to now has been taking on new customers for fear of not being able to supply our regulars.”
He added, “Wines from areas such as Kent replicate the taste of champagne because they use the ‘holy trinity’ of champagne grapes (pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier) in a region with the perfect soil and climate. The Kent coast is only 80 miles north of Champagne and the geology of the chalk sub-soil and the topography is almost identical.”
