English Wine Week: Celebrating craft and climate

Over the past decade or so, there’s been a noticeable shift in the perception and availability of English wines. Twenty years past, no one would have served anything other than a fine Old World wine, but changing climates have sparked a change in fortunes and the south of England is now home to a flourishing fine wine industry. With the same terroir as northern France and a climate comparable to the region 100 years ago, estate owners are doing what Brits do best; adapting, evolving and innovating at pace to offer delicious cool-climate wines worthy of weddings and celebrations.

The star of seasonal events from Wimbledon to Henley, English sparkling wine has seen an 187% increase in consumption since 2018, with English wine as a whole the UK’s fastest growing agricultural sector. As Michael Kennedy (below), CEO of Roebuck Estates notes, “it’s not often a new industry comes along. There’s genuine excitement and interest”. From the chalky soils of Sussex, to pioneering estates in Kent and Hampshire, producers are pushing boundaries. Roebuck itself owns six vineyards in southern England — four in West Sussex, one in East Sussex, and one in Kent.  Alongside Roebuck, behemoths such as Gusbourne, Chapel Down and Nyetimber are fast becoming reliable household names for consumers, with Roebuck selected to produce a sparkling offering for esteemed heritage brand Marks & Spencer; already earning rave reviews. In-house, its Roebuck Rare Expressions No. 96, a limited edition luxury sparkling wine, was unveiled earlier this month. “The consumer is now interested in trying ‘special’ wines from English producers. We’re still a relatively young industry, but it’s time for producers like us to showcase what we can really do and the exceptional wines that we can make.”

Elsewhere, smaller-scale producers are also flourishing. One such is Charlie Herring in Hampshire. Based outside Lymington, a popular yachting destination on the outskirts of the New Forest, the vineyard is located in a classic walled garden, purchased by owner Tim Phillips in 2009. Today, he has a small-scale winery making “terroir-focused wines. In order to make the best possible wine, you need to work with nature and understand what that entails.”

Chatting with Tim, his considered approach and passion for place and provenance is evident. He grows classic grapes such as Chardonnay, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. “I applaud the new wave of PiWi growers and the thinking behind them, [but] I am a classicist at heart and so were the choices I made. To make genuine terroir-based wines you need varietals capable of reflecting place, in our case the gravel-based soils of the New Forest. I planted here largely by virtue of the fact I was born here; that the place has outstanding potential I have only learned through my work.”With such a strong sense of place in his wines, timing and attention to detail is crucial. While Roebuck boasts a robust team and two winery partners (“double the expertise” says Michael, “and more tanks!”), Tim is resolutely a one-man band. For him, “the biggest challenge is time. Not so much the overall time needed but when you need a specific job done quickly and circa 40 hours work needs doing in two days — it can pile on the pressure.” But the benefits of staying small outweigh the challenges. “There are never any blurred lines — in agriculture all actions are interrelated. I’m a believer in the idea of vigneron rather than the viticulturist/winemaker split.” 

Staying small has also created a unique relationship with customers, awarding Charlie Herring an almost cult status among brand fans. Indeed, it’s often hard to get your hands on a bottle of his much-revered creations. “I worked on the basis that we’d do what we thought was best. Because the production would be small, we wouldn’t have to concern ourselves with what the wider market was looking for and would find our niche. Small producers can find a place within a much larger industry based on differentiation and quality. That Charlie Herring has succeeded in this has been very important for [our] longevity, and that people have formed a strong relationship with what we do has felt immensely rewarding.”

With life thriving on his lands, Tim’s uncompromising approach to sustainability is tantamount to Charlie Herring’s success. “Making the best product ethically puts you on a road that allows possibly making a world class product, [and] that is our aim. If your success/profit is a result of exporting some of your costs/pollution then you fail not only ethically, but as a venture.” With an in-house ecologist, Roebuck also takes sustainability seriously, but working on a more commercial scale generates different considerations. Jake Wicks (above), Roebuck’s Head of Viticulture, explains, “The healthier the vineyard, the more biodiversity we attract, the happier the vines will be, and the better the fruit will be. It’s a virtuous circle.” A recent switch to organic fertiliser, becoming fully herbicide-free and radically reducing chemical usage for fungicides and pesticides were a big undertaking for the estate. “We have a maritime climate, so weeds grow easily but we were all behind going this way. At first, we managed it via under-vine cultivation, but we then moved onto under-vine strimming — which means no disturbance to the soil structure and no release of carbon from the soil. This [also] helps retain soil health.”

With English wines consistently performing well among Old World counterparts in blind tastings, will English wines become the latest export? For Roebuck, it’s already a reality, sold in 13 different countries beyond the UK, from the US and Canada, to Hong Kong and Singapore. Roebuck’s largest market is Norway, while elsewhere, Japan is the third largest for English wine.

It sounds as though the future’s rosy and, with this week’s soaring temperatures showing no signs of abating, Tim believes so too: “It was, and continues to be, an incredibly exciting place for winegrowing.” As consumers seek luxury with a lighter footprint, it seems English wine provides an antidote to far-flung New World wines. So, this English Wine Week (21-29 June), why sip on something that’s been shipped halfway across the world when you can enjoy a bottle from the cooler climes of home?

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