English Wine Culture
How much do you know about English Wine, learn about this growing industry, the grapes making English wine great and why the world is taking note.
Julie Bailey
10/11/20267 min read
English Wine is a serious contender
English wine is having it's moment, well it probably has been for sometime, but for many they're just discovering the wonders it offers. The UK’s wine scene has quietly shifted from something of novelty to a genuinely exciting contender. Why - well this is thanks to a mix of geology, microclimates, and grape varieties that thrive far better here than you might expect.
Our climate is the secret weapon
We may be known for drizzle in the UK, but English vineyards aren’t planted on windswept hillsides they’re mainly tucked away into sheltered valleys, often on chalky, flinty or rocky soil that drain beautifully and warms up quickly. These pockets create growing conditions that suit certain grapes extremely well.
While climate change brings challenges, it has also nudged average temperatures upward, giving growers more reliable ripening windows. The result is a wine industry that’s expanding fast, with more vineyards and wineries appearing every year.
The great grapes
England isn’t trying to imitate the big, sunny wine regions, it simply can't, but instead it's leaning into what it does best. Beautiful fresh, aromatic and elegant wines that taste like the landscape they come from. It’s hardly surprising that tasting notes often talk of hedgerow, grass, citrus and florals like a summer English garden.
Grapes used for the UK wines are names not so well known as their famous French, Italian or Southern hemisphere cousins.
Chardonnay is the most single planted grape variety in the UK, making up roughly 33% of all vines. It loves the chalk and limestone soils of the South East. It was planted historically as a base for high acid sparkling wines however with warmer growing seasons, it is increasingly used to make exceptional still white wines with green apple, citrus, and mineral notes. This increase in production has sparked a bit of a style debate between wine makers, on how much and whether to use oak. English Wine makers tend to reserve oak for their premium still bottled wines, keeping their other wines unoaked in stainless steel to maintain the clean crisp vibrance.
Whilst English wine makers avoid the heavy oak once used in the 1990s in Australia, opting for lighter French oak older barrels with subtle flavour of oak, the debate continues with many leading wine makers pushing for unoaked Chalis styled wine at a more affordable price.
Bacchus, is often called England’s Sauvignon Blanc, with hedgerow, lime, elderflower, and that crisp, refreshing kick of a Sauvignon Blanc. It makes up around 10% of the UK planted stock. It was created in Germany in 1930s by mixing Silvaner, Riesling, and Müller-Thurgau. It thrives in cooler climates like the UK because it ripens early and retains a lively, crisp acidity.
Pinot Gris is another cool climate advocate, it’s a grey skinned grape that comes from a colour mutation of a Pinot Noir, the grape is grown across the southern part of the UK and is one of 6 grapes that form part of the English PDO able to be used in English Sparkling wines. It is typically noted with bright orchard and citrus fruits such as pear, green apple and white peach with lemon zest featuring, often picking up flavours of white blossom, honeysuckle and soft notes of spice. It ha a balanced acidity with a roundness and creamy texture. Sitting easily between a Pinot Grigio and the richer Alsation Pinot Gris.
A side note Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio are the same grape, the word Gris means grey in French and Grigio, grey in Italian. Whilst you may well have known these two are the same, you’d be surprised how many don’t as they can taste very different. This is due to the winemakers use of the grape.
The grape originated in Burgundy in France later spreading to the Alscae in Germany and Southern hemisphere. The name used on the label tends to represent the wine flavour. Grigio in the Italian style picked earlier to capture the green apple, pear, lemon and lime flavours, whilst Gris is left longer and becomes fuller, rounder and off dry capturing a richer flavour, with notes of peach, honey, apricot and ginger.
Pinot Noir is responsible for 30% of grapes planted in the UK, whilst a slightly demanding grape has become a versatile rising star, partnering well with the British weather. Pinot Noir is a thin skinned grape that does well in longer growing, cooler climates, which helps it develop a more complex fruit flavour. The grape buds early, therefore ripens quicker, ideal for an unpredictable English Summer.
These grapes are quite different to those found in hot climates, but the chalk, clay and greensand soils found in the UK can produce wonderful mineral rich flavours often associated with Burgundy offering exciting alternatives to the dry whites you’d normally associate with sunshine.
Pinot Noirs’ flavour profile leans toward bright, fresh, and elegant rather than heavy or jammy. Winemakers in the UK use it to make three main styles of wine, each with its own distinct flavour notes.
Still Red Pinot Noir light to medium bodied, a translucent ruby in colour, and highly aromatic. The stand out note are strong red berries, cranberry, sour cherry, redcurrant, and raspberry. But also a savoury earthy note, found with age. If oak is used, this changes the taste profile to include a more subtle baking spice, with warm toasted vanilla and wood.
Sparkling Blanc de Noirs (White Wine from Dark Grapes)
When Pinot Noir is pressed instantly to make white sparkling wine, the flavours shift completely away from red fruit into rich, yeasty notes. It brings out the fruit and zest of baked red apples, dried cranberries, pomegranate and orange zest. But it’s that richer toasted flavour the is reticent of champagne. Flavours like toasted brioche, honey and almonds come through driven by yeast and the length of time the wine is resting on the lees.
Still & Sparkling Rosé The wine picks up a delicate pink hue depending on the skin contact time, this may only be a few hours but it’s enough to create summer garden flavours, fresh strawberries, raspberries, roses and cream, rounded with a fresh chalkiness or minerally finish.
Pinot Meunier: Is the unknown star of the UK wine world, which accounts for around 8.5% of the grapes grown here. It’s often overshadowed by the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Meunier means Miller in French, the underside of the leaf look like they have been dusted with flour, hence it’s name. In Germany it’s recognised as Black Riesling (Schwarzriesling) and in the old English viticulture it was also recognised as Millers Burgundy
It’s another mutant of the Pinot Noir, but as it buds late in spring often avoids the dangerous frost that can destroy a crop, but it ripens early and fits in well with the unpredictable English weather.
Acting as a balanced connector in classic sparkling blends, it injects fruitiness, body and texture. It also behaves well when fermented without strong tanins or earthiness often found in other grapes.
In Sparkling Wine, it offers hints of orange zest, redcurrant, pomegranate, and baked apple, alongside a fine creamy mousse. As a still red wine it’s becoming a bit of a revolution, with some UK wine makers producing standalone single varieties. The are light to medium bodied reds bursting with aromatic flavours of raspberry, cherry, rose petals, and a distinct, wild mushroom earthiness.
Madeleine Angevine arrived in the UK somewhere in the 1950s. It is an early ripening grape that hails from the Loire valley and used across the globe including in the Loire, Germany, Pacific Northwest and of course the UK. It’s often blended in the UK but produces a beautiful delicate nose discussed as English Garden after a shower, and shows note of citrus, honeysuckle and gooseberry. But it is perfect for our UK shorter growing season. Somewhat overshadowed by the more widely grown Chardonay, but a beautiful grape expressive and delightful in a crisp glass.
Seyval Blanc is the next on the list with around 127 hectares therefore approximately 3% of the total UK vineyard plantings, which makes it the most hybrid planed UK grape. Another grape originally created in France in the 1920s. Again it’s a early ripening grape enjoying the cool climate. It’s also frost hardy and very reliably for the unpredictable English summer. However these small cluster grapes do become vulnerable to Botrytis in wet weather.
Taste notes features crisp acidity, bright citrus, green apple, and mineral notes reminiscent of white Burgundy. It is widely used for sparkling wines as well as still wines aged in stainless steel or oak.
The vineyards leading the charge
A handful of producers have helped put English wine firmly on the map, not just locally, but internationally.
Nyetimber (Sussex) the name almost everyone knows. They were early pioneers of planting classic Champagne grapes in England, long before it was fashionable. Their sparkling wines have picked up a long list of international medals, and they’ve become the bottle people bring when they want to prove English fizz can genuinely compete with the French.
Langham Wine Estate (Dorset) award‑winning sparkling wines that have beaten established European rivals in blind tastings.
Chapel Down (Kent) one of the UK’s most recognised wineries, regularly collecting international medals for both sparkling and still wines.
Camel Valley (Cornwall) consistently celebrated for its sparkling wines, including international trophies.
Gusbourne (Kent) known for premium sparkling wines with a strong reputation abroad.
Ridgeview (Sussex) a pioneer of English sparkling wine, with a long list of global awards.
These aren’t isolated success stories. They’re part of a broader movement, seeing English wines win medals, gain international respect, and develop a style that’s distinctly their own.
A growing industry with growing confidence
English wine is now one of the fastest‑growing agricultural sectors in the country. Vineyard acreage has expanded dramatically, new producers are joining the fold every year, and established estates are planting more vines to keep up with demand.
There’s a sense of momentum, a feeling that English wine isn’t just good it’s gaining a reputation and creativity of exciting proportions.
English wine has found its voice, it's not trying to be Champagne, or Loire, or Marlborough. It’s carving out its own identity, crisp whites, expressive still wines, and sparkling wines that genuinely hold their own on the world stage, using grapes that excel in our English conditions.
And with more producers, more medals, and more people trying these delicious wine you should be off to your own local vineyard to sample their craft.
We recently visited one of our local vineyard Sandridge Barton, in Stoke Gabriel in Devon. For £15 we were treated to a very accessible tasting, whilst self guided , which really suited us, we sat in the English countryside, surrounded by farmland in the lee of a hill while watching some extremely good local musicians. We drank some exceptionally good wine, enjoyed some fabulous food and felt we'd become part of something special. English Wine Culture.
Maybe that’s the theme for the next blog.