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English and Welsh wines
There is a world of difference between wine that is labelled “British” and wine that describes itself as “English” or “Welsh”. Failure to distinguish between the two can lead to disappointment!
The distinction:
“British” wine is made from grapes grown abroad or, more typically, from grape concentrates that have been shipped into Britain. The wine is merely fermented and bottled in Britain and the label will state something along the lines of “Made in the UK from imported materials”. These British wines are, all too often, of indifferent quality.
“English” and “Welsh” wines, on the other hand, are a different matter. These are wines of superior quality, made from grapes grown in England and Wales.
Origins of wine production in England and Wales:
The vine was first introduced into England by the Romans. The Domesday Book of 1086, records the existence of as many as 83 vineyards. Although wine production continued to flourish throughout the next century, it was mainly in the hands of religious orders, the monasteries and the great houses of the period.
In 1152, an historic event took place that was to have a major impact on wine production in England and Wales. France’s Eleanor of Aquitaine married England’s Henry II and part of her dowry was the wine-producing region of Bordeaux - territory which the English owned for around the next 300 years. The markedly superior red wines of Bordeaux were much coveted amongst English royalty and court circles and their consumption virtually replaced that of native produced wines. This fact, together with the dissolution of the monasteries, in the 1530s, led to many vineyards falling into disuse.
Over the following three centuries, wine production, in England and Wales, continued to decline.
Then, in 1887, attempts were made by the Marquis of Bute to revive the wine industry in Wales. He ordered the planting of new vineyards, including sites at Castell Coch, Swanbridge and the Vale of Glamorgan. In 1916, however, these vineyards were uprooted and replaced with food crops for wartime survival and once again, the revival of the wine industry fell into decline.
It was not until after the end of the Second World War, that the English wine industry eventually resurfaced. This was largely thanks to the efforts of Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones, who planted a vineyard at Hambleden, in Hampshire. Initially, he tried to cultivate the red Black Hamburgh grape, but later focussed, more successfully, on grape varieties that were more appropriate to the cold British climate. Other wine producers soon followed his lead. Today, there are well in excess of 300 wineries in England and Wales, producing several million bottles of good quality wines per year.
The regions:
Because of the unfavourable climatic conditions, vines will not thrive further north than a rough line across England, from The Wash to the River Mersey. The main English counties of production are Kent, Sussex, Oxfordshire, Dorset, Berkshire, Surrey and Somerset. The main Welsh counties are the Vale of Glamorgan and Pembrokeshire.
Climate:
Britain’s cold climate, with its wet summers, is not ideal for the cultivation of the vine. In most years, growers suffer from substantial crop wastage. Despite this drawback, some excellent vintages have emerged from many of England and Wales’s vineyards, notably in 1989, 1992 and 1995.
Grape Varieties:
English and Welsh wines are mainly white and produced from predominantly Germanic grape varieties, including Müller-Thurgau, Schönburger, Ortega, Reichensteiner, Huxelrebe, Bacchus, Gütenborner, Seyve Villard, Morio Muscat, Riesling, Sylvaner and Seyval Blanc.
There are also some decent reds and rosés, produced mainly from the Pinot Noir, Zweigeltrebe and Gamay grapes.
Styles:
Most English and Welsh wines are white and vary from dry to off dry. The best quality wines fall into two broad categories:
· Light, dry, neutral wines, with the capacity to age well
· Green, scented tangy wines, some of which are aromatic and have flavours of hedgerow and elderflower.
Quality is also available in the sparkling wine sector, where the wines are produced using the traditional Champagne method. Good examples include Nyetimber and Ridge View, both of which are superb.
Wine Classification System:
The English Viticultural Association (EVA) was founded in 1965. Each year, the EVA awards its seal of approval to only the pick of producers’ wines that have been presented to the association for testing. An EVA seal on a bottle is a sure indication of quality and consistency.
Despite the fact that general standards and quality have improved remarkably over recent years, English and Welsh wines remain something of an unknown quantity to the outside world. Even the British wine-drinking public is not very familiar with its own countries’ wines. They rarely feature, for instance, on restaurant lists and occupy very limited space on supermarkets’ and retailers’ shelves – which is a great pity. These quality English and Welsh wines deserve to be better promoted, both at home and abroad.
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