UK wine

The limestone soils of Kent and other portions of southern England are suitable for growing the grapes used to produce sparkling wine, and particularly on south-facing slopes, the climate, at least in recent years, is warm enough.At the last official count, the Wine Standards Board reported that there were just over 350 vineyards producing wine throughout England. The largest of these is Denbies Vineyard in Surrey which, as of mid-2007, has 265 acres (1.07 km²) of vines, although Chapel Down Wines near Tenterden in Kent, has the biggest winery and produces more wine, and will soon overtake Denbies.

Two notable English Vineyards, The Three Choirs Vineyards, in Gloucestershire, set in 70 acres (280,000 m²) of countryside and is one of England's leading wine award winners. Sharpham Vineyard in Devon mixes a range of traditional and new world techniques to create their crisp taste in their white wines. Yearlstone Vineyard near Exeter has won many awards and at 37 years old is one of England's oldest surviving vineyards.

"English wine" is also a common generic term used in India meaning "Western spirits".

According to the Wine Standards Board, there are currently 17 operational vineyards in Wales.

Chef Peter Gottgens, owner of the Ardeonaig Hotel in Perthshire, planned to produce a white Riesling wine in 2010 to serve his hotel guests.It would be the first wine produced in Scotland in commercial quantities. Gottens had planted 48 vines as an experiment in 2006, and planned to expand this to 800. Gottens said: “Cold is not the problem, the lack of sunshine is our biggest problem. If the wine is fit for consumption it will be served by the glass with our food. If it's not good enough we can make it into vinegar.”

The term British wine is commonly used to describe a drink which is made in Britain by fermenting imported grape juice or concentrate that can originate from anywhere in the world. The most common style is a medium or sweet high-strength wine that is similar to sherry.The United Kingdom is a major consumer, but only a very minor producer of wine, with English and Welsh wine sales combined accounting for just 1% of the domestic market.In recent years, English sparkling wine has started to emerge as the UK wine style receiving the most attention. Theale Vineyard Sparkling Chardonnay 2003 beat off stiff competition from fine Champagnes and top sparkling wines to make it into the world’s Top Ten Sparkling Wine at the world’s only dedicated sparkling wine competition, French-based Effervescents du Monde (sparkling wines of the world) 2007.

 

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