Wine from the United Kingdom

Wine which is grown and produced in the United Kingdom is generally classified as either English wine or Welsh wine (depending on country of origin), (but should never be referred to as British wine as that term is generally linked with an inferior grade of product, see below). 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. [ [http://www.english-wine.com/index.html English-wine.com] ]

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. [Defra [http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodrin/wine/industry.htm UK Wine Industry information] ]

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.

Geography

English Wine

At the last official count, the [http://www.wsb.org.uk Wine Standards Board] reported that there were just over 350 vineyards producing wine throughout England. [The Wine Standards Board's [http://www.wsb.org.uk/pdfs/english-welsh-wine-feb06.pdf Report on English and Welsh Wine] - February 2006] The largest of these is [http://www.denbiesvineyard.co.uk Denbies Vineyard] in Surrey which, as of mid-2007, has convert|265|acre|km2 of vines.

Welsh Wine

According to the [http://www.wsb.org.uk Wine Standards Board] , there are currently 17 operational vineyards in Wales.

'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 sherry. [English-wine.com - [http://www.english-wine.com/confusion.html English or Welsh but not "British"!] ]

History

Roman to 19th Century

The Romans introduced wine making to the United Kingdom, and even tried to grow grapes as far north as Lincolnshire. However, the British climate was simply too cold and too wet to grow grapes for making wine. Winemaking continued at least down to the time of the Normans with over 40 vineyards in England as 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. However 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 wines became popular because unlike regular wine, it does not spoil after the long journey from Portugal to England.

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.

20th Century

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 70s, and were simply blended white and red sweet wines and were called "cream wine" (creams). The largest vineyard in England is Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey, which has convert|265|acre|km2 under vines, and a visitors' centre that is open all year round.

The growth of English wine accelerated in the late 90s, helped by popularity of wine from the new world, especially Australia, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa which made consumers in the British Isles more accepting of wines that were not from the traditional wine growing regions of Europe. They were made popular by their single vintages, brand labels, and general non-fussiness of the wine. This influenced the English wine industry to copy what happened in the new world and produced good-quality wines with grapes like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. 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.

Winemaking has also spread to the South West including Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Cornwall and the Isle of Wight. The Midlands and the 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. It is a significant difference but growers will need to invest money for no initial return, crops tend to come in the 3rd or 4th year.

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.

Grape varieties

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 134.64Ha(1st) in 1996 to 81.1Ha(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 hLs of white wine and only 5083 hL of red wine made in 2006. [English wine producers - [http://www.englishwineproducers.com/grapes.htm Grapes info] (accessed 16/08/2007).] [English wine producers - [http://www.englishwineproducers.com/stats.htm Production statistics] (accessed 16/08/2007).] [ [http://www.ukvines.co.uk/wine/grapemenu.htm UK Vines - Grapes] (accessed 16/08/2007)]

Effect on the British economy

Although there has always been a worldwide market for Scotch whisky, most of the wine consumed in Britain is imported from other countries as it is usually hard to grow grapes due to the British climate. However, 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.

Rules of wine labelling

There are several official categories of wine in the UK. For still wines (i.e. not sparkling) there are United Kingdom Table Wine, English Regional Wine, English Quality Wine, Welsh Regional Wine, Welsh Quality Wine. All but UK Table Wine have to go through a testing and tasting procedure before they can be so labelled. For sparkling wines the categories are English Sparkling Wine and English Quality Sparkling Wine with Welsh equivalents. These wines do not have to be tested or tasted before being so labelled.

ee also

*Globalization of wine

References

External links

* [http://www.wsb.org.uk/index.htm Wine Standards Board]
* [http://www.english-wine.com/ English Wine.com]
* [http://www.englishwineproducers.com English Wine Producers] - The Marketing Association of the English Wine Industry
** [http://www.englishwineproducers.com/vineyardregional.htm List of UK Vineyards]