Winemakers Drink To 2014's Crop Of The Century

Winemakers in England have said 2014 will be remembered as one of their best ever years thanks to what they are calling a “crop of the century”.

A lack of frost, a warm summer and a long ripening period brought about a bumper harvest of grapes for the country’s vineyards.

“Some years you get quantity, but then the quality is diluted, yet that hasn’t happened this year,” wine manager Chris White from Dorking-based Denbies Estate told Sky News.

“This has been a truly exceptional year. We will be looking at producing 500,000 bottles of wine and sparkling wine, for the first time ever.”

Retail giant Marks & Spencer has already put in an order for 60,000 bottles of sparkling white wine and rose, said Mr White, whose father first planted vines in Surrey in 1986 after a family friend had pointed out that the chalky limestone soil on the North Downs is similar to that of northern France, where they produce excellent white wines.

“I think we will have wines capable of winning international awards this year, for sure,” he said.

“We’re very excited. Once upon a time the French would scoff at English winemakers, now some of them come over and visit to see what the fuss is all about.

“It has taken a long time to get this far and now we want to keep improving and keep showing people that we can not only compete, we can win.”

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge served a sparkling English white wine, Chapel Down from Kent, at their wedding in 2011 and since then the wine world has noticed the standards being set by the blossoming English industry.

The number of English winemakers now stands at 135 – the highest for 20 years – with more than 1,800 hectares of land now given over to vineyards, mainly in the South.

“It’s good news for jobs and good news for the country,” Environment Secretary Liz Truss said. “This sector is now worth £100m a year and that is very important because it’s a sector we were not that well represented in not that long ago.”

Sparkling white accounts for 66% of grape production in England, while white wine stands at 25% and much of the rest is rose.

Mr White added: “2014 will go down in history as a truly brilliant year for winegrowers in this country. Everything just worked out pretty much perfectly weather-wise and that really helped the fruit.

“We’re even thinking of having a Beaujolais release next year, that’s how excited we are!”

Source Article from https://uk.news.yahoo.com/winemakers-drink-2014s-crop-century-060603997.html

Winemakers Drink To 2014's Crop Of The Century