Kent vineyard through a hedgerow

So what is all the fuss about, English wine can’t be any good can it?

Well yes! It really can…Did you know for example, English wines collected an amazing 120 medals at last year’s, highly acclaimed International Wine Challenge.

Many people are aware sparkling wines and still wines are being produced across Kent, Sussex, East Anglia, Hampshire and in fact most counties in the south can boast multiple wineries now. And as the climate gets warmer we are already seeing vines being established across the country and we are going to see a proliferation of vines being grown further and further north.

If you’d have uttered the words ‘English wine’ to anyone twenty or more years ago, then you’d have been met with looks that range from puzzlement to mockery. You may well have been offered a glass of something homemade and fairly nasty during the craze for making your own towards the end of the 70’s and into the 80’s. There was probably a very good reason why it tasted like it had been strained through an old sock…

English wine for many years was looked down upon not just by wine experts and growers but by the English public themselves, most people preferring wine from France, Spain, Italy, Australia, South Africa or South America. The perception always was and, to a certain extent still is, that it’s not something we can possibly be any good at in the UK.

However, during the last twenty years, a quiet revolution has been going on in the vineyards of England. English winemakers have been busy improving all facets of their winemaking from growing grapes to the final production stages and this has resulted in some amazing wines that are making a real impact across the world.

Geology plays a big part in this renaissance, much of the South Downs benefits from being on the same chalk seam as the Champagne region of France so English grapes are particularly good and that’s the basis of some excellent wines. These in many cases can ably compete with their French counterparts. The French of course have a major head start, they have been making top quality fizz for many, many years but fear not the English are coming. Estates like Nyetimber, Hambledon, Wiston, Camel Valley in Cornwall, Henners and several others are producing award-winning wines. Tellingly Tattinger, one of the biggest French Champagne houses invested back in 2015 in 69 hectares of Kent vineyard so they are able to produce their own wines in the UK.

English Sparkling Wine is starting to make an impression, it was recently served at the state banquet to welcome the president of China Xi Jinping to this country, an event where historically you would expect French Champagne to be served.

The English producer Nyetimber has been making a particular impact, their Classic Cuvee 2010 recently finished in second place at a blind tasting that was organised by the prestigious and ridiculously hip ‘Noble Rot’ magazine.

Still not convinced?

Check out our 5 ‘inspiring’ reasons why you need to try some English sparkling wine this year:

1 – It’s Made in the UK! (Well duh!)

English sparkling wine is as you would suspect made in England. Buying more home-grown and homemade produce is something that we should all be doing more of. Much of the sparkling wine made in England isn’t made by big corporations that you may find in other key winemaking regions, but by small and family businesses and these fantastic little ventures need our support, now more than ever.

2 – It’s the Environmental Choice

Most, if not all English sparkling wine is grown in a very eco-friendly way and uses processes and systems that are designed to work in harmony with their surroundings and have as little impact on the environment as possible. With transportation across the world causing lots of pollution in the form of carbon dioxide emissions, think about how less of an impact your bottle of English sparkling wine has that’s grown and bottled maybe no more than a couple of hundred miles from your home to a bottle from Australia, over 9000 miles away.

3 – It Tastes Great!

Probably the most important reason, English sparkling wine is good! It tastes great! Forget the bad old days of ‘Pea-pod Burgundy’ (The Good Life, anyone?), you will be at the very least pleasantly surprised and probably genuinely shocked (in a good way!) at how good English Sparkling wine is now. It is a genuine Champagne rival these days, easily being able to go up against these varieties and stand proudly with their distinctly English twist.

4 – It Won’t Break the Bank

It’s not particularly expensive, especially when you compare it to its French counterpart, there is a wide variety to suit all pockets. In these Brexit times with talk of tariffs and all that jazz, European wine prices are very likely to rise, increases are already being seen so homegrown wine will become an even more attractive proposition.

5 – It’s Achingly Cool!

English fizz is still relatively unknown outside of the cognoscenti of the wine world, it’s still a rarity on supermarket shelves but like any quality product, it is only going to get more and more popular once people catch on. So be ahead of the curve and serve an English Sparkler at your next barbeque, it’s guaranteed to get people talking and you’ll achieve ‘wine-buff’ status overnight amongst your friends!

I have concentrated specifically on sparkling wine in this post but there is also a wide variety of other wines, reds, whites and some excellent rosés from small independent wineries across this beautiful country. I will be pulling together some more suggestions and recommendations on English Wines and what to look out for in future posts.

If this has piqued your interest, you’ll find English and Welsh wineries in places you just wouldn’t expect, The South Downs is a given, Cornwall, Mid-Wales, Gloucestershire, Dorset, Suffolk, Norfolk, Yorkshire has some there is even one or two in Scotland although it can’t be easy to ripen grapes that far North, can it?

However, with the effects climate change may well mean over time it could be possible to grow grapes anywhere in the UK.

So next time you are out and about on the country roads of Britain keep a look out for vines, you’ll be surprised where they are growing.

Dean Spencer, Director – Inspiring Wines

Check out our range of English Fizz from Nyetimber and Henners currently at Inspiring Wines and we have plans afoot to add several more award winning English wines to our list in the very near future.