Winegrowing in the United Kingdom was probably introduced by the Romans, was widespread in the Middle ages, started slowly [again] in the 1950s and accelerated rapidly in the 1970s, in part due to the drought summer of 1976′, (Hugh Johnson: Wine Companion: 1991, p.524). Now it is essentially confined to England and Wales (see also Brecqhou) which are in the throes of a wine-growing boom. 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, and ‘at the farthest northern limit of the zone where grapes will ripen,’ (Hugh Johnson: Wine Companion: 1991, p.524). 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.

Winegrowing: 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; budburst may be occurring slightly earlier, but the frequency of frosts has remained virtually unchanged.’

Vineyard regions: The UK’s vineyards are found in southern England and Wales, especially in traditional fruit-growing areas such as Kent (an historically important region for the hops it grows for beer), Sussex, Essex, and Suffolk and along the south coast through Hampshire and Dorset and as far as Devon, and north through Berkshire, Wiltshire and Somerset and as far as Worcester, (Hugh Johnson: Wine Companion: 1991, p.524).

Wine style: Initially mainly tart, light, still white wines often with light sweetness for summer drinking. Now the focus is on traditional method bottle fermented sparkling wines.