United Kingdom | Château Monty

The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland comprises England, Scotland, and Wales–which is the Great Britain bit–and Northern Ireland, which is the Northern Ireland bit. See also Brecqhou and Sark.

Organic & Biodynamic wine production data: See here.

Winegrowing in the United Kingdom is essentially confined to England and Wales (see also Brecqhou) which are in the throes of a wine-growing boom (see below). Investors both local and foreign (eg. deep-pocketed Champagne houses) have been piling in, tempted by tax incentives for land that is being farmed, and a belief that ‘global warming’ will make wine-growing more commercially viable in the UK’s cool, damp, blustery climes. However climate change may in fact cause the UK to become cooler and wetter due to more variable North Atlantic atmospheric circulation which affects the North Atlantic jet stream.

John Atkinson MW told me ‘as vines are Mediterranean plants they are kick started by the onset of summer weather patterns. In the UK, summer weather patterns are slow to establish, and therefore the vegetative cycle lags. This lag can cause flowering to occur a month later than in Central France. Current climate trends are leading to hotter summers in the UK, but springs are still long and erratic; bud-burst may be occurring slightly earlier, but the frequency of frosts has remained virtually unchanged.’

Viticulture: Stephen Skelton MW (2006, by email) told me “I am not sure that the new hybrids we grow in the UK – Orion, Phoenix, Regent and Rondo – are that resistant to downy mildew and certainly Rondo gets botrytis very readily. I think there is a definite trade-off between their lack of non-vinifera character and their susceptibility (in a damp season like 2006) to disease.”

Wineries

Certified organic: Davenport Vineyards (East Sussex). | Forty Hall Community Vineyard (Essex). | Llaethliw Vineyard (Wales). Wernduu (Wales).