Exploring English Wines
Bordeaux, Tuscany, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Napa…East Anglia? Could England really be the next world-class wine-producing region?
According to Sixty Minutes, the answer is yes. In recent segment on climate change and the global wine industry, journalist Lesley Stahl highlighted the growing number of healthy vineyards producing quality English wines. “Great Britain’s wine-producing fortunes have been heating up along with the planet.” Stahl noted.
Stahl’s half-hour look into the wine industry and the havoc caused to it by climate extremes was an excellent overview of recent research, statistics, and economic consequences. She deftly took her post-Super Bowl audience into the story with a nod to Valentine’s Day and romance and then turned her microphone over to the vintners themselves. And as we’ve argued before, winemakers really do know about climate change.
Among those interviewed was British author, consultant and winemaker Stephen Skelton. Skelton confirmed that English wine benefited from warming temperatures. The average number of days over 85 degree Fahrenheit has increased significantly in Southern English regions, putting them on a level comparable to the Champagne region in France. “The climate has shifted in 30 or 40 years upwards,” he confirms, “North. Northwards.”
GLASS OF WINE OVERLOOKING THE RIVER CAM, CAMBRIDGE
So what could a wine lover interested in exploring this buzzy region expect to find? And where to find it? Here at Healthy Vines, Pure Wines, we’re planning our own excursion and we’re happy to share what we’ve learned so far.
THE REGIONS TO VISIT
Most, but not all, wine regions of England are to found along southernmost coastlines facing the English Channel.
Surrey, Kent and Sussex, in WineGB South East, lead the country in number of vineyards. No wonder: the area boasts soil and cooler climate conditions similar to those of Champagne France. Indeed, its marine subsoil stems from the Paris Basin that also runs through the Champagne region. Plantings include Bacchus as well as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier – well-known champagne grapes.
Moving west to WineGB Wessex, we find Hampshire, home to England’s oldest commercial winemaker Hambledon Vineyard. Founded in 1952 by Major General Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones, Hambledon now cultivates over 200 acres of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier and proudly bills itself as the only gravity-fed, state-of-the-art winery in the UK.
Further along the coast is the WineGB West region which encompasses Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and the surrounding countryside. A much smaller winemaking region in terms of acres cultivated, the South West is home to prestigious winemakers such Cornwall’s Camel Valley and Dorset’s Bride Valley Vineyard as well as a delightful number of small wineries and vineyards. Bride Valley is especially notable as the one-time sheep farm belonging to the wife of famed wine critic Steven Spurrier.
Finally, to the north and east of London and facing out to the North Sea, East Anglia takes English wine as far north as it will go…for now. The variety of soil in this region ranges from loam, clay, flint and chalk and even alluvial gravel. The climate is the driest of the UK: a boon for early spring plantings. WineGB East, as the area is known, represents more than 50 vineyards.
THE VARIETIES TO TRY
Sparkling Wines
The English Sparkling Wine Revolution began in the late 1980s when American vintners, Stuart and Sandy Moss, planted Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier at Nyetimber. Once their sparkling wines began winning industry awards in the mid-nineties, others followed. Within two decades, the amount of English land under vine quadrupled to 3,578 hectares.
English sparkling wines to try include Hampshire’s Hattingley Valley, Oxfordshire’s Wyfold Vineyard , Surrey’s Grey Friars Vineyard, and the most charmingly English-named Breaky Bottom winery in East Sussex.
Even the Queen is getting into the act this year with a limited release of her own Buckingham Palace English Sparkling Wine, as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations to mark her 70-year reign.
Natural Wines
In Healthy Vines, Pure Wines, we highlighted UK wine-importer Joel Wright’s work in promoting awareness of small-batch natural wines from France and beyond. Natural wine production has now taken root on British soil and there’s a variety to vineyards to explore.
Begin with a visit to Tillingham in East Sussex, where a former hop barn turned guest house offers accommodations. Tillingham utilizes biodynamic methods for soil health and a scientific approach to their natural winemaking. Other English biodynamic winemakers of note include Limeburn Hill Vineyard and Laverstoke Park Farm.
Another must for your visit would be Forty Hall Vineyard, located in Enfield. Part of a larger community-based and volunteer-run effort, Forty Hall is the first commercial scale vineyard in London since the middle ages. In addition to their bubbly London Brut offering, Bacchus and Ortega grapes produce their two single variety still dry white wines.
THE PEOPLE TO KNOW
As California’s winemakers well know, your wine may be world-class but sometimes it takes a champion to help you get the word out. We’ll always take a moment to raise a glass to British wine merchant Steven Spurrier here in Sonoma and Napa.
In the UK, a new generation of critics, advocates and retailers are now championing their own wines. We highlighted the important work of Steven Skelton above, but here’s a few more of the tastemakers to note:
Becky Hull MW – English & Welsh wine buyer, Waitrose
Miles Beale CEO, Wine & Spirit Trade Association
Oz Clarke – Wine writer and broadcaster
Wines of Great Britain (WineGB) – National association for the English and Welsh wine industry