THE GRAPES OF ENGLAND

The English are generally considered to be a nation of beer drinkers, but they consume a lot of wine. And this may come as a shock to some of our readers, but they also produce wine. Wine was introduced to the British Isles by the Romans, but wine production sadly went into decline when Henry VIII closed down the monasteries. Since the end of the Second World War, however, English wine has started to make a comeback, particularly in the field of sparkling wines.

Julia Trustram Eve is marketing director of the English Wine Producers association. As she explained Its was been absolutely phenomenal. In the last eight years English sparkling wines have won no less than five trophies for world sparkling wines. That’s not been beaten by any other country, so that really is quite extraordinary, and this has been in competitions, some of the major ones that are UK based, but also in France and in Italy as well. So it really has put us on a global footing and that, of course, has encouraged a massive amount of very positive media interest too, which is recognized globally and they won the trophy for the best international sparkling wine. It’s the first a vineyard outside of Champagne has won that trophy. That was quite remarkable.

Julia Trustram Eve we can certainly claim that it was the English that invented the Champagne process. We have documented evidence that in 1662 an Englishman recorded the process that we now know as ‘the traditional method’, which is the addition of sugar into a wine to enhance effervescence. And this was going on in London and the resulting sparkling wines were enjoyed by Londoners more than 30 years before a certain Dom Perpignan went to Champagne and created this process in France, and nearly 70 years before the first Champagne house was founded.

Climate Change- In spite of its recent successes, the English wine industry is still very small. Total production is 3 million bottles a year, while the figure for France is around 7 billion bottles. Yet English wine production is set to increase in the future. Climate change could well play a part.

Julia Trustram Eve Global warming will benefit our wine industry. We’ve seen it already.

Those vineyards that were planted, particularly in the South of England in the 1970s, say are finding that their harvest dates are getting earlier and earlier. If you look to the Champagne region, it’s going to affect them pretty dramatically because you need this slightly cooler climate and this long growing season, to ensure the acidity in the grapes, prior to the traditional method process. And the warmer the climate, the richer and the rounder the grapes are going to get.

So champagne, if global warming does do what it does, is going to possibly become a very different drink. So you move two degrees further north and where’s that? The South East of England! So, yes, you can argue it’s going to be entirely beneficial.

Another point, potentially, is that maybe vines could be a future crop for England, as some of our more traditional arable crops are going to find it less easy to grow in a warmer climate. I think we’re predicting that by 2080 our temperature is going to go up by five degrees – is it something like that? - Pretty significant, in which case it will be too hot to grow grapes in the South of England. We’ll be growing them up in Manchester and on the shores of Loch Ness. Who knows? Manchester Merlot!