With all the economic uncertainty around us it is comforting to be hit by an industry on the roll. At today’s annual tasting of English and Welsh wines organised by WineGB at the RHS Lindley Hall in London there was a palpable buzz in the air on the back of a record 13.2m bottles produced from last year’s bumper harvest. This was more than double the previous year’s output with almost 70% accounted for by sparkling wine which continues to win top gold medals in international competitions. This year’s crop could turn out to be the second best after last year’s. Three million new vines were planted this year, nearly twice 2018. Happy days . . .
But what struck me most were innovations among the still wines. There were two Pinot Meuniers – one white by Simpsons and one red by Hush Heath – which I have never come across before. Pinot Meunier is one of the two red grapes from which classic champagne is made along with white Chardonnay. The other red is Pinot Noir which is being successfully grown in the UK but Meunier is hardly ever turned into a still wine anywhere so it is great to see two English vineyards taking the plunge to produce two very agreeable wines.
Meanwhile, the long established Three Choirs on the Gloucester/Herefordshire border has branched out into producing fizz and dry white in small tins – a great way to sample UK wines – and they are also selling Bacchus in a box.
Bacchus (made from Riesling-Silvaner and Müller-Thurgau) is now Britain’s flagship white wine. It reached new heights at the 2017 Decanter World Wine Awards where it was voted best in the world.
What is a bit puzzling is the huge price differentials among the Bacchus wines on show bearing in mind that to most palates there is not a great deal of difference. They range from Brightwell of Oxford charging only £9.99 to a recent arrival, Montgomery in Wales which charges £20 a bottle (they apparently sell it all without difficulty) and Hattingley Valley which clocks in at £22.50. New Hall vineyards in Essex, which introduced Bacchus into the UK and has been a big supplier to other vineyards, charges £11.50 for its Bacchus (though not at the WineGB show as it is not a member). Bacchus is likely to continue to lead the revival of UK white wines – at whatever price – not least because academic studies have revealed large regions of Essex and elsewhere as being ripe for development.
Vineyard tourism is expanding fast while exports of UK wines grew from 4% to 8% of total sales in 2018 and are likely to continue to expand thanks to concerted efforts by the industry and government. If there is one place that needs more effort it is Europe. WineGB statistics show that 43% of all exports went to Scandanavia but none – yes, none- to France, Italy, Spain or the rest of the continent of Europe. I leave you to figure that one out.
@BritishWino
Victor Keegan 