Copyright © Stephen Skelton, 2019, 2024
The right of Stephen Skelton to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2019 by Infinite Ideas Limited
This edition published 2024 by Académie du Vin Library Ltd academieduvinlibrary.com
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ISBN 978–1–913141–78–3
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Front cover: Oast House Meadow vineyard of Hush Heath Estate with the oast house and manor house beyond. Staplehurst, Kent, England © Cephas/Mick Rock
Plate p. 1 (top), Breaky Bottom, courtesy of Axel Hesslenberg, thepebbles.com
Plate p. 2 (top), Flint Vineyard Winery, courtesy of Simon Buck Photography.
Plate p. 3 (bottom), Llanerch, courtesy of A.L.S. Photography, Vale of Glamorgan.
Printed in Great Britain
indicating both manuring and residues from plants that grew in the trenches.
A report entitled: ‘A possible Vineyard of the Romano-British period at North Thoresby, Lincolnshire’ was written by the archaeologists who carried out the investigations, D. and H. Webster and D. F. Petch, and published in Lincolnshire History and Archaeology no. 2, in 1967. The evidence, the authors suggested, showed that because of the amount of work that went into digging the ditches and importing the stone and pottery to aid drainage, the crop would have had to have been a high-value one. Since olives can be discounted as a commercial crop at these latitudes and other fruits such as apples would not have been of high enough value, it was suggested that grapes were the most likely crop. This was despite the fact that the site was so far north, despite the heavy clay and despite the very wide rows – far wider than vineyards usually planted by Roman vinegrowers. Ray Brock (whose part in the revival of viticulture in Great Britain is fully detailed in Chapter 2) was consulted at the time and he too thought the evidence too flimsy to confirm that this site had been a vineyard. The authors of the report were also somewhat hesitant in declaring the site to have definitely been a Roman vineyard and concluded by saying: ‘it is tentatively proposed, therefore, that the site at North Thoresby was an unsuccessful experimental vineyard’ – hardly a ringing endorsement.
In AD 277 (some references say AD 280), the Emperor Probus repealed Domitian’s earlier edict which prevented native inhabitants from planting vines in countries under the Roman yoke (specifically ‘Gauls, Spaniards and Britons’). This may have provided the impetus needed for Britons to start growing vines and supplying both their rulers and perhaps some of the very early Christians with home-produced wines. Salway, in Roman Britain, states at the end of his section on the Roman-era wine trade that: ‘The evidence for British vine-growing is so far exceedingly thin, though there is some reason to think this may be partly due to inadequate recording in past excavations. Only at Gloucestershire [at Tolsey, Tewkesbury] is there anything remotely satisfactory, and that is from the report of a nineteenth-century find and has little detail. If there were British vineyards, we do not know if their production went beyond the small-scale operation that has revived in this country in recent years [this was written in 1991], nor whether it extended beyond domestic consumption to the commercial market.’
VINEYARDS AFTER THE ROMANS
When the Romans began to leave at the end of the fourth century, Christianity, which had been made the official religion in the empire by Constantine in AD 312, became more widespread and wine drinking, playing as it did an important part in Christian ceremonies, became more accepted. Whether this was of local or imported wine, it is hard to say. If there were vineyards, then they were undoubtedly attached to religious institutions such as abbeys and monasteries. As the Romans finally left Britain, the country was plunged into what we call the Middle Ages and invasions by the Jutes, the Angles and the Saxons destroyed much of the limited civilization that the Romans had established during their 300 years of occupation. These warring tribes had neither the time nor the inclination to settle down and become farmers and whatever vineyards there had been at this time undoubtedly became neglected. The early Christians, fleeing from these tribal disturbances, retreated to the corners of these islands – mainly to Wales and Cornwall – taking with them their skills as winegrowers. Whether they set up vineyards is not recorded, but many of these early Christian settlements (such as on the islands of Lindisfarne and Iona) were in areas not suitable, either then or now, for vines.
When Augustine (the first Archbishop of Canterbury) landed on the Kentish Isle of Thanet in AD 596, sent to Britain by Pope Gregory to convert the early Celtic Christians to a Roman way of Christian worship, he probably brought wine with him and would have obtained further supplies from continental traders. Whether he planted vineyards in England or not is unknown. It would be nice to think that he did and as Canterbury was (and still is) a favourable area for fruit growing, it is not an impossible thought. As Christianity spread into the climatically more favourable areas of Britain, old skills were revived and there is some evidence that vineyards were established. However, given that growing conditions on the continent were more suitable for commercial viticulture and that wine travelled, why would anyone want to establish a vineyard with all its attendant costs, unless they were perhaps members of an enclosed religious order? The fact is that trade with mainland Europe was increasing and it is well recorded that wine played an important part in that trade, thus lessening the need for home-grown product.
The Venerable Bede, writing in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in AD 731, stated that: ‘vines are cultivated in various
In his treatise, Rose discusses the question of site selection, vine varieties, pruning and training (with illustrations) and care of the vines up to the harvest. He was also a commercial nurseryman as on the front page of the treatise he states that it contains ‘an Address where the best Plants are to be had at easie rates,’ and ends it by advertising that he has ‘a plentiful stock of sets and plants for sale and that readers may receive them of me at very reasonable Rates’. Rose, obviously a talented gardener, is generally regarded as the first person to grow an Ananas (pineapple) in England, which he presented to King Charles II in 1671.
In 1670, one Will Hughes, a servant to the Right Honourable Edward, Lord Viscount Conway and Kilulta, wrote a book entitled The Compleat Vineyard: or An Excellent Way for the Planting of Vines According to the French and German Manner and Long Practised in England. In the introduction he states: ‘there have been plenty of vineyards in England heretofore; and it is very well known that there are now in Kent, and other places of this Nation, such Vineyards and Wall-vines as produce great store of excellent good wine’. In his book he gives explicit instructions on all aspects of growing vines: site selection and preparation, choice of varieties – ‘the lesser and greater white Muscadine, the red Muscadine, the Frantinick, the Parsley-grape (more for show and rarity than profit) and the Rhenishwine vine’ – how to stake and grow them, when to pick (‘when they are ripe by their sweet and pleasant taste’) and finally how to make the most of them in the winery.
Despite these exhortations from the good and the great of the time, vineyards do not appear to have been widely planted. However, a few were. Richard Selley in his book The Winelands of Britain: Past, Present and Prospective tells of a substantial vineyard at Deepdene, near Dorking. Here, Charles Howard, the fourth son of the Duke of Norfolk (whose descendant was to plant one a century later at the family seat, Arundel Castle), planted a vineyard which seems to have been popular with writers. John Evelyn made several visits to Deepdene between 1655 and 1670 but did not mention the vineyard, so perhaps it had not been planted by then. John Aubrey visited in 1673, by which time it had been planted as he produced a plan showing it to cover 7 acres, 1 rood and 1 pole5 (2.94 hectares). In 1724 Daniel Defoe wrote in his book A Tour thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain that the vineyard had
5 A rood is an area of one furlong (just over 200 metres) long by one rod (just over five metres) wide. There are four roods to the acre. A pole is 1/160th of an acre.
produced: most excellent good wines and a very great quantity of them. By 1762, however, the vineyard appears to have been abandoned.
In 1690 or thereabouts, one ‘D. S.’ wrote a book called Vinetum Angliae: or A new and easy way to make Wine of English Grapes, and other fruit, equal to that of France, Spain etc, with their Physical Virtues, which was published by G. Conyers, at the Gold Ring in Little Britain (price 1 shilling). In chapter 1 of this little book, charmingly entitled England’s Happiness Improved: or, an Infallible Way to get Riches, Encrease [sic] Plenty, and promote Pleasure, the author states: ‘That Vineyards have been frequent in England is apparent, upon the account of the many places now bearing Corn and Pasture retaining that Name,’ and continues by saying that ‘it is the Opinion of the most experienced in this way, that the Southern parts of this Island, with the Industry of the Natives, might produce Vines [sic] equal to those of France, either Claret or White-Wines.’ D. S. then sets out the precise way in which vines should be planted and manured (although surprisingly does not mention which varieties of grape would be best), continuing with a section entitled To make Wine of the Grapes of the Growth of England in which he details the complete winemaking process and finishing with the advice that ‘the white grapes not too ripe give a good Rhenish-Tast [sic], and are wonderful cooling.’
In 1727, a ‘Gentleman’ known only by the initials S. J. published a relatively large handbook (192 pages) on growing vines (as well as a wide variety of other fruits).6 It was called The Vineyard and in it S. J. writes: ‘Tis not above a century or two of years since the planting of the Peach, the Nectrine, the Apricot, the Cherry and the Hop, were treated in as ridiculous a manner, as the Vine-yards at present are, in this Country,’ and goes on to demonstrate in careful detail how vines would grow and fruit in the British climate. He continued by saying: ‘the Want of Wine in England is not owing to the Unkindness of our Soil, or the Want of a benign Climate, but to the Inexperience of our Natives.’
6 Blanche Henrey in British Botanical and Horticultural Literature before 1800 suggests that the author of this book was in fact Richard Bradley, Professor of Botany at Cambridge. Bradley’s publisher, Mears (who also published The Vineyard) did publish a number of his works and included a similar title in a list of his publications. However, this is only an assumption based on circumstantial evidence as there is no obvious reason why Bradley would publish this anonymously as he was (apparently) a self-seeking, ambitious man, and there is no evidence of his travelling in France (the book makes frequent reference to French vineyards). Also, as Bradley was a well-known writer at the time, it is hard to believe that his publisher would fail to use his name in this work and lose potential sales. S. J. was most probably someone else entirely.
North Sea
English Channel Scotland
Lindisfarne
Lamberhurst
Tenterden
Hambledon
Horam
Beaulieu
Adgeston
Oxton
North Thoresby
Three Choirs
Hat eld House
Rayleigh
Castel Coch
Kew
North eet
Painshill Place
Silchester
Deepdene
Oxted
Teynham
Molash
Canterbury
Isle of Thanet
Panborough
Ockley
2 THE REVIVAL, 1939–1951
To say that vinegrowing in the British Isles totally disappeared after the end of the Marquess of Bute’s efforts in South Wales would be incorrect. Yes, it would appear that the growing of vines for commercial wine production ceased, but this did not stop there being a lively interest in the growing of grapes for both home-made wines and for the table. No doubt because of the state of the economy after the First World War and during the recession of the late 1920s and 1930s, many more people had vegetable gardens, allotments and smallholdings in which they raised a wide variety of fruits, vines included. In addition, there was a very wide use of glass cloches to protect tender plants, and two manufacturers, Horticultural Utilities Ltd of Liverpool and Chase Protected Cultivation Ltd of Shepperton, did much to promote the cultivation of vines under glass, both before and after the Second World War. There were also commercial growers in several places, Worthing in West Sussex and in the Channel Islands to name but two, who still grew grapes for the table under glass (Black Hamburg, Muscat of Alexandria and Gros Colmar were the standard dessert varieties) and who sent the fruit, carefully packed in baskets, up to Covent Garden for sale.
ROLAND LEE AND THE CHESHIRE VINEYARDS
A small booklet called Growing Grapes in the Open by Roland Lee, published in 1939, throws some interesting light on the situation before the experimental vineyards at Oxted were planted by Ray Brock (of whom more later). In this booklet (which Brock gave me when I visited him
improved and apart from 1998 and 1999, the temperature rose to 29°C or above in every year up to and including 2006 (which had the highest average annual temperature ever). In 2007 things reverted back to normal, with no days of 29°C or higher and one of the wettest, coolest and most dismal summers ever, even though the average temperature for the year as a whole was, after 2006, the second highest since records began. Much the same pattern was seen in 2008, with no days of 29°C or over and a very low degree-day total (around 750), although sugar levels were exceptionally high, as were acid levels – an unusual combination. With the highest sugar levels ever then recorded in the history of modern British winegrowing (that is, until 2018), 2009 was a remarkable year. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir achieved 11–12% potential alcohol with near-perfect acid levels and some excellent yields. Even though the summer temperatures were not that high (only two days at 29°C or over), there was a very good spring and early summer with high temperatures in June and a flowering period to die for (which coincided with one of the driest Wimbledon tennis tournaments on record – no need of that new roof). July was wet and warm, August much the same, but September and October were largely dry and warm. But why – you may ask – is 29°C of such significance?
I have been convinced for many years that what made Britain such an unusual place (and sometimes a very unsatisfactory place) for growing grapes was the absence of really hot days in midsummer. The country’s growers had quite a long, mild season with good light levels, long summer evenings, and summer temperatures and degree days that didn’t differ too much from some other winegrowing regions, yet several things were obvious: natural sugar levels were lower, acids were higher (and more malic), dry extracts were lower and, very importantly for the economics of the business, yields were lower and more variable than in any other winegrowing region. In addition, the British spectrum of varieties was based around the ultra-cool-climate varieties: German crosses with the odd hybrid thrown in for good measure. None of the classic cool climate varieties – Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc – really got a look-in, since none of them would ripen for still wine. Champagne, Britain’s nearest foreign winegrowing region, used to have very similar degree days to Kew in London, around 925 and 885 respectively, and the average temperature of the warmest
month (July) was 17.8°C in Reims against that of 17.6°C in Kew. Yet it is plain to see that growers in Champagne could ripen 12–15 tonnes per hectare of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and make sublime sparkling wines, whereas British growers struggled to ripen half to a third of that weight of varieties that often produced second-rate wines. What then was the difference?
The idea that high summer temperatures are needed to grow a good crop of grapes which will ripen fully is not mine. In Viticulture Volume 1 – Resources (2nd edition 2005) edited by Peter Dry and Bryan Coombe, reference is made to work done by J. A. Prescott in 1969 and Smart and Dry in 1980, both of which take the mean temperature of the warmest month (MTWM) – January in Australia, July in Europe – as the single factor that governs the suitability of a site to grow certain varieties. And what governs the level of the temperature of the MTWM? – the number of days when the temperature rises into the high 20s or low 30s. You can take anywhere between 28°C and 31°C, the theory holds good at any of these temperatures.
The past three decades have seen a gradual rise in the number of days when the temperatures rose above 29°C and 30°C, with a consequent rise in the average July temperatures which, for England as a whole, have risen from around 13.5–14.5°C in the 1970s and 1980s to 15–16.5°C – a rise of around 1.5–2°C in the past ten years. What this has meant to viticulturalists is that once marginal varieties – Pinot Noir and Chardonnay being the most widely planted – have suddenly started to move into the mainstream. Natural sugars have increased, acids are still high, but nowhere near as high as they were (for these varieties), the malic–tartaric balance is better. The other change in the climate – apart from the higher temperature midsummer days – is the rise in night-time temperatures (just ask the salespeople in any British bedding shop how many 13.5 tog duvets they sell these days). This means that vines warm up sooner, reaching the temperature where leaves can start photosynthesizing earlier, meaning that they can spend more time producing sugar. That is my theory anyway. However, the one element that hasn’t changed much, in fact there is evidence that it has got worse, is yields, in both absolute and variability terms.
Since 2009, the British weather has been quite mixed, with vintages likewise. As in other parts of the world, what are known as ‘extreme weather events’ have occurred more often, with both cold and hot
Scotland
North Sea
England
Wales
Wessex South West Thames and Chilterns
South East
English Channel
Mercia
118.9 hectares, 96 vineyards, 4.4% of the area under vine
Wales
47.6 hectares, 31 vineyards, 1.8% of the area under vine
Thames and Chilterns
105.1 hectares, 42 vineyards, 3.9% of the area under vine
South West
264.1 hectares, 185 vineyards, 9.8% of the area under vine
Wessex
432.9 hectares, 100 vineyards, 16.1% of the area under vine
South East
1466.3 hectares, 241 vineyards, 54.5% of area under vine
East Anglia
255.5 hectares, 92 vineyards, 9.5% of area under vine
Area planted to vines in England and Wales
Mercia
East Anglia
4 VITICULTURE AND WINEMAKING
From a single 0.4-hectare (1-acre) vineyard planted in 1952 to today’s almost 3,000-hectare industry with several vineyards of 40 hectares or more, each employing staff numbered in the dozens, is a remarkable journey, in just over 65 years. Mistakes have been made and lessons (sometimes) learned in every aspect of production and there is no doubt that many of Britain’s growers, winemakers and wine marketeers are today world class. This is not to say that every vineyard is planted in a perfect spot, with the right varieties, clones and rootstocks and managed expertly – but then this could be said of almost any winegrowing region. The best vineyards in Britain are certainly up there with the best from around the world.
TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
There is no doubt that many of those who planted vineyards in the past were rank amateurs when it came to growing vines (or for that matter, growing anything). They seemed to think that vines were an undemanding crop, farmed by generations of peasant growers overseas who seemed to muddle by without much bother, and therefore it couldn’t be that difficult – could it? Many also took the view that vinegrowing was an occupation they could fit into their spare time, weekends and summer evenings, forgetting that sometimes a week is a long time in a vine’s life, especially if rain disrupts the spraying or weed control programme. This fairly casual approach to the process resulted in some very poorly
and Siegerrebe. Siegerrebe is a freely pollinated Madeleine Angevine seedling with Gewürztraminer the most likely culprit as father. Ortega was first registered in 1971 and is named (somewhat curiously) after the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset.
In Britain, Ortega was introduced by Jack Ward, who planted it at Horam Manor in 1971, and it has slowly grown in popularity. It is one the earliest varieties to ripen in Britain – just after Siegerrebe and Optima – has high sugars, low acids and plenty of flavour. An early bud burst makes it susceptible to spring frost damage, it is sensitive to poor flowering conditions and will suffer from coulure in poor years. It can be quite vigorous and canopy management needs to be good to get the best fruit. It will also get botrytis towards the end of ripening which will turn to noble rot if sugar levels are high enough. Given good canopy management and timely attention to spraying, this variety can provide high-quality grapes, useful for both normal still wines and dessert wines. Growers report that its bunches tend to get tangled up with each other and with the canes and wires, and picking can take twice as long as for other varieties.
When fully ripe, wines made from Ortega are rich and zesty with good balance, although warm years may result in wines with rather low acidity; care needs to be taken to pick at the correct time. Biddenden Vineyards have won numerous gold and silver medals with Ortega wines, winning the Gore-Browne Trophy with one in 1987, and Denbies use it for their multi-award-winning Noble Harvest. Growers of Ortega seem to like the variety and the area has risen from 29.5 hectares in 1990 to 39 hectares in 2018, which must be seen as a vote in its favour. Expect to see more of it in the future.
Phoenix
• Type: vinifera (complex hybrid)
• Colour: white
• Origin: Bacchus x Seyve Villard 12-375 Phoenix (and not Phönix) is another of the many complex hybrid crossings made by Professor Dr Alleweldt at Geilweilerhof and is Bacchus x Seyve Villard 12-375 (Villard Blanc). It was first registered in 1984 and listed for general growing in 1992.
Phoenix first appeared in Britain in the late 1990s. There were only 1.9 hectares planted in 1999 but the area has risen very slowly, to cover
24.6 hectares in 2018, which, all things considered, is relatively respectable. Although only planted on a few sites in Britain, the wine can be good quality (Three Choirs’ is usually the best), with higher sugars and lower acids than MT, and is Bacchus-like, although not as powerful. It is one of the several complex hybrids that can be made into Quality Wine in Britain. It will probably never be widely planted, but could be useful in climatically less-favoured vineyards.
Pinot Blanc
• Synonym: Weißer Burgunder
• Type: vinifera
• Colour: white
• Origin: original variety
Pinot Blanc is one of the most widely distributed varieties across Europe and comes from the vast family of Pinots. It is often confused (one suspects mostly deliberately) with Chardonnay. The style of wine they produce can be similar but in general terms it is less demanding than Chardonnay, will ripen more easily and has a higher yield. It is to be found in France, Alsace especially, Germany, in many Italian regions in great quantity and in many other cooler regions. In Britain it is a fairly new introduction (since 1990) and has grown steadily from 6.2 hectares in 2006 to 29 hectares in 2018, which must be seen as positive. It is mainly used for the production of sparkling base-wine and very few 100 per cent varietal wines exist, although Chapel Down’s version (made from grapes grown in Hampshire, Essex and Kent) is one of their best wines and more growers should follow their example. Like Chardonnay, it requires a good site and careful management to ripen it fully and get the acids down. It will find a good home in sparkling wine blends and it deserves to be planted a bit more for still wines. Another important, but minor, variety.
Pinot Gris
• Synonym: Ruländer
• Type: vinifera
• Colour: white
• Origin: original variety
Pinot Gris is another variety from the large Pinot family and appears to have almost as many clones as there are winegrowing regions using it. In Alsace, its most respected home (where it was known as Tokay
under plastic means you have a much greater flexibility on which varieties you plant and Day currently has Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Chasselas, Gewürztraminer, Merlot, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc, all for winemaking. Dessert varieties (table grapes) were considered, but with little enthusiasm from the multiple retailers, this idea was shelved.
As well as importing vines from French and German nurseries, Day is pioneering the production of own-rooted vines (i.e. not grafted onto rootstocks) in Britain. This was a business that his father started in a small way, mainly to supply the demand for varieties not usually produced by overseas nurseries, principally MA 7672. Own-rooted vines are slightly controversial as phylloxera is present in some British vineyards. However, Day feels that the benefits of own-rooted vines – lack of a graft, no rootstock (which can carry what are known as ‘trunk diseases’) and ability to plant potted vines in the autumn (as opposed to the spring, the normal time for British vineyards to plant vines) – outweigh the disadvantages of what he feels is the ‘remote possibility’ of a phylloxera infestation. ‘As long as one is careful about biosecurity, not using equipment, machinery or picking boxes that have been in other vineyards, then the risk is minimal, ’ he states. Another benefit, which I find intriguing, is Day’s claim that own-rooted vines hang on to their leaves much longer than grafted vines, giving them an ability, post-harvest, to restock with carbohydrates prior to the winter. If this is true (and I have no reason to doubt Day on this) it is a significant factor and one that ought to be trialled on a scientific basis. Watch this space.
Day started producing own-rooted vines on a commercial scale in 2013, initially in beds covered in black plastic, but found that losses were high and too many vines had poor roots, making them unsaleable. Since then he and the Haygrove propagation team have developed a system of growing them in individual pots, six pots joined together in one tray, with each pot having its own irrigation and fertigation supply. Growing them in pots means that the rooted vines can easily be lifted (or more precisely picked up), knocked out of their pots and planted directly into the vineyard without disturbing the roots. It also enables growers to receive their vines in the autumn, still in leaf in September or October through to dormant vines in November or December, so that the vines have a chance to bed in over the winter and make an early start on growth in the spring. The current level of production should
see Day selling around 50,000 own-rooted vines in 2018–19. Having no graft, the vines can be sold with trunks if the grower wishes, acting in effect like ‘high graft’ vines which offer the promise of cropping in year two. Taken together, these own-rooted vines potentially have some significant advantages over traditional grafted vines (except that is for that vine louse). Day is also offering a massal selection36 service to growers who wish to expand (or replant) their vineyards with wood taken from an existing vineyard. So far, this service has only been taken up by a couple of growers, but it is a start.
Taken together, the vineyards, the wine sales, the contract winemaking, the vine propagation and the vine sales, Day has developed what appears to be a very viable, sustainable business, all based around British viticulture. As a second-generation viticulturalist, he has seen the transformation from grape growing based upon Müller-Thurgau, Seyval Blanc and Reichensteiner to an industry based upon Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Bacchus, and has the experience to take good vintages with the bad and come out the other side. The next twenty-five years should be both interesting and rewarding for him.
Tinwood Estate
Tinwood Lane, Halnaker, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 0NE. www.tinwoodestate.com
36 hectares (89 acres)
One of Britain’s larger growers, starting to make an impression with highquality bottle-fermented sparkling wines.
Born in 1985 into a farming family, agriculture was probably in Art Tukker’s blood from an early age, certainly earlier than many of today’s British winegrowers. His Dutch grandfather had owned glasshouses in the Netherlands and made a living growing tomatoes and other salad crops. His father, Arie, being the youngest son, was not going to inherit the farm, so became a consultant and travelled the world overseeing tomato and lettuce production for Marks & Spencer. In 1983 Arie settled in England near Chichester, buying (and renting) land in the South East in order to grow lettuces for British supermarkets; at one time he was growing over 600 hectares (1,500 acres) of lettuces, making him
36 Massal selection is where scion wood for grafting is taken from an existing, cropping vineyard, rather than a single-clone mother-block.
sugar to alcohol conversion rates are never that predictable. This means that many wines are bottled with between 10 per cent and 10.5 per cent actual alcohol which, by today’s standards, is quite low. Wines from warmer parts of the winegrowing world are much more likely to be bottled with at least 12.5 per cent and typically for many regions 13.5 to 14 per cent actual alcohol. This relative lack of alcohol in the wines of Great Britain is noticeable to wine drinkers more used to other contemporary wines, and whilst it might appeal to the health conscious, there are still plenty of consumers for whom the alcohol level is a key decider – within reason, the higher the better. One solution to this problem is to make more PDO wines, where the upper limit on total alcohol is 15 per cent. However, this does not help those wines made in whole or in part from hybrids, which cannot, under present EU legislation, be Quality Wines. This means that producers of red wines, which are the wines that really might benefit from having actual alcohols in the 12.5–13.5 per cent range, have to make sure that they don’t use any hybrids in their blends. Luckily, the 2002 ruling by DEFRA (following, I have to say, five years of lobbying by myself) that four modern interspecific-crosses – Orion, Phoenix, Regent and Rondo – would henceforth be considered to be viniferas has helped red wine producers, as Rondo and Regent are both successful red varieties and both quite widely used.
The question of the use of süssreserve for the pre-bottling sweetening of wines seemed to exercise minds greatly in the 1980s, but no longer seems such an issue. Many winemakers, now using temperature regulated stainless steel tanks, can stop fermentations more or less at will, using strains of yeast that are easier to stop, as well as racking-off and cooling. Süss – as it tends to be called when it is used – is either imported (almost entirely from Germany with Müller-Thurgau and Bacchus being the most popular varieties) or is home-grown, where Müller-Thurgau and Reichensteiner (and occasionally Bacchus) are the preferred varieties. This change has come about partly because it is a requirement for PDO wines that material used for sweetening originates in the same region of production as the wine being sweetened. Stopping fermentations of course gets around the problem of finding suitable English or Welsh süssreserve. If sweetened, the total alcoholic strength may not be raised by more than 4 per cent (around 68 grams per litre residual sugar which ought to be enough for most palates) or raise it above 15 per cent total alcohol. For sweetening sparkling wines i.e. in the dosage, most
producers use Rectified Concentrated Grape Must (RCGM in English or MCR in French), which being liquid, odourless and colourless is a very easy product to use.
Residual sugar levels in English and Welsh wines have come down markedly over the past 20–30 years, mainly because of the change in tastes of the wine-buying public, many of whom now prefer wines with relatively low levels of residual sugar. Geoff Taylor, whose ‘Corkwise’ analytical laboratory has been the principal analyst to English and Welsh winegrowers since 1988, says that most English and Welsh wines now fall into the official ‘dry’ and ‘medium dry’ categories where, with sufficient acidity, wines can have up to 9 g/l (dry) and 18 g/l (med-dry) of residual sugar. Very few English and Welsh wines are now bottled with more than 25 g/l of residual sugar, which was far from the case in the 1980s. Taylor also says that in the almost 30 years he has been analysing English and Welsh wines he has noticed that acidity levels have come down, due to riper grapes, better deacidification and the use of malolactic fermentation. He also says that alcohol levels have risen (as they have worldwide) which he feels is due to growers leaving their grapes to ripen more fully, coupled with the use of yeasts with better sugar-to-alcohol conversion rates and the wider use of refrigeration in British wineries. This leads to gentler fermentations and less alcohol loss. He also says that without a doubt, the overall quality of English and Welsh wines has risen very substantially and many of the poorer producers now appear (thankfully) to have given up the struggle. This is surely good news for the industry.
styles of wine 101–2
Throwley 72
Tinwood Estate 77, 223–6
Tod, H. M. 25, 26
Tokay d’Alsace see Pinot Gris tractors 95
Tradescant, John 16 training of vines 91–5 of winegrowers 83–5
trellising 91–5
Trembath, Becki 187, 190
Trembath, Chris 187, 189, 190
Triomphe d’Alsace 129, 144, 145, 161, 180, 244
Trollinger see Black Hamburg trunk diseases 91, 142, 200, 222
Trzebski, Jan 148
Tukker, Arie 223, 224
Tukker, Art 223–4, 225, 226
Tukker, Jody 226
Tyson-Woodcock, Philip 47, 259
Tytherley 49
under-vine cultivation 96
United Kingdom Vineyards Association (UKVA) 197, 262–4
Winemakers of the Year 147, 190, 274
Unwin, Tim 6, 10, 12
USA Wines West 217
Valley Vineyards see Stanlake Park Wine Estate
Varietal Wines 252
VAT 52
Vertically Shoot Positioned (VSP) training 91–2, 94, 95, 210
Vibert, Pierre 114
Vickers family 159–60, 161, 162
Villard, Victor 130
Villard Blanc 120
Villaris 108
Vilmart 168, 170–1
Vine and Wine 219
Vine House 237
vine planting ban 50, 109, 243–4, 245, 264
vine varieties 106–34
Vine Varieties Classification Committee (VVCC) 108, 242
‘Vineyard Nursery’, London 30
Vineyard Register 51, 248
Vining, Andrew 50
Vintner’s Company 50
Vispré, Francis Xavier 22
Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo (VCR) 215
Vranken-Pommery 77, 80, 85, 277
Waitrose 139
Breaky Bottom 143
Halfpenny Green 161
profile 226–32
Rosé Trophy 203
Sharpham 211
Sixteen Ridges 221
Winbirri 236
Walker, Ernie 33
Walpole Group 154
Ward, Jack 44, 97, 98
EVA 259, 261
Merrydown Wine Company 73
Müller-Thurgau 118
Ortega 120
Pinot Noir 123
Reichensteiner 127
Watchcombe vineyard 183, 184
Weald and Downland Vineyards Association 262
Webster, D. and H. 8
Weißer Burgunder see Pinot Blanc
Welland Vineyard 238
Wellow 50, 52
Welsh Vine Growers Association 259
Wessex Vineyards Association 262
Westbury Vineyard 48, 52, 92, 123
Westfield 48, 70–1
Westphal, Bob 49
Westwell Wine Estates 194, 280
wet-sugaring 118, 127
Whitaker, Imogen 77
White, Adrian 50
William I, King 11, 12
William II, King 11
William of Malmesbury 12
Williams, Scott 181–2
William the Goldsmith 13
Winbirri Vineyard 232–6
winds 88–9
Windsor Great Park vineyard 176, 177–8
Wine and Spirit Trade Association/Wine and Spirit Association of Great Britain 263
WineGB 101, 185, 203, 264–5, 268
Wine Innovations 183–4
Winemaker of the Year 147, 190, 274
winemaking 96–100 rules and regulations 254–7
Wine Society 177
Wines of Great Britain Ltd see WineGB
Wine Standards Board/team (WSB/WS) 242 data collection 49–52, 57, 64
funding 50
Pinot Noir Précoce 125
Quality Wine Scheme 247–8 vine varieties 108
Winward, Lucy 187
Wiston Estate 194, 198, 269, 272, 280
Witchell, Hannah and Ben 154–9
Wood, Joanna 241
Woodchester Valley Vineyard 280
Wooldings Vineyard 271
Wootton Vineyards 49, 84, 130, 132, 175, 261
Worontschak, John 72, 99
Wray, Nigel 150
Wrotham Pinot see Meunier
Würzer 52, 140
Wye College vineyard 110
Wyfold Vineyard 139, 165, 176, 177, 178, 179
yields 53, 80, 243
Breaky Bottom 140–1
Camel Valley 145
Castle Coch 24
Chardonnay 112
climate change 61–3
Dornfelder 114
Harrow & Hope 163–4, 165
historical 12
Hundred Hills 171 hybrids 244
Laithwaite’s 178
Llanerch 182
Lyme Bay 183, 185 Meunier 116
Müller-Thurgau 118
Nyetimber 193
Oxney Organic 202
Oxted 36
Pinot Blanc 121
Pinot Gris 122
Pinot Noir 124
Regent 126
Reichensteiner 127
Sandhurst 205, 207
Schönburger 130
Seyval Blanc 131
Sharpham 211
Simpsons Wine Estate 216
Sixteen Ridges 221
Tinwood Estate 225 variability 63–6
Waitrose 230
Winbirri 235
Yorkshire Heart 238, 239
Yorkshire Heart Vineyard 237–40
Zakharova, E. 128
Zarya Severa 128, 134
Zimmerman, Dr 34
