UK wine production 'set to double over next six years'

Published on Monday 28 September 2009 23:13

WINE production in the UK will almost double in the next six years, industry experts yesterday predicted as the grape harvest got underway.

Despite a lacklustre British summer, the brief sunny spell during the Wimbledon lawn tennis fortnight fell during the vine flowering period, boosting domestic grape production.

This year's harvest among England's 416 wine-growers is expected to produce at least three million bottles of still and sparkling wine. But the figure is still far behind seasoned wine producer France's formidable eight billion-bottle output.

About 1,106 hectares of land are now dedicated to grape-growing – an increase of 45 per cent since 2005, according to the UK government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The English Wine Producers organisation predicts that, with further acreage being planted, English wine production will rise to 5.6 million bottles by 2015 – 3.7 million of which will be sparkling wine.

Stuart Smith, who runs Ryedale Vineyards in Westow near York, the UK's most northerly commercial producer, said he hoped to produce 3,000 bottles of white and rose wine this year compared with 450 last year and eventually increase his output to 20,000 within five years.

He said: "We're a relatively new vineyard – last year was our first crop. This year we've had particularly good weather: the heat in June brought the vines into flower quite early and we missed much of the wet weather in July.

"The climate is warming, making it possible to grow grapes in the south of England and increasingly further north."

Smith's team began harvesting the early black grapes yesterday morning and the process will continue for the next month over his two sites, which contain 10,000 vines.

He added: "There is a tremendous loyalty to Yorkshire produce and we are tapping into that. With the quality, people come back for more. There is a much greater demand for local food and drink than there has been for a long time."

Frazer Thompson, chief executive of Chapel Down Wines, in Kent, the largest producer of English wines, said home-grown tipples were gradually gaining a name abroad.

He said: "English wine has become an international force to be reckoned with. It has become something people drink through choice, not just patriotism. English wine has become desirable not just here but in the US, Hong Kong and Japan."

Thompson added: "Wines from areas such as Kent replicate the taste of champagne because they use the 'holy trinity' of Champagne grapes (pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier] in a region with the perfect soil and climate. The Kent coast is only 80 miles north of Champagne and the geology of the chalk sub-soil and the topography is almost identical.

"We'll be picking our grapes right through until the second half of October so it's really too early to say whether this will be a bumper year. Everyone remains quietly optimistic."