England is the new France!

English vineyard in Surrey

Holes in the ozone layer; freak snow storms; tsunamis and flooding all allegedly caused by global warming. We are living in changing times and changing weather patterns.

As we've seen with the weather this winter, England is going through some significant changes. We have a very complex weather system living in this island at this latitude.

Most of the world's wine is made between 30 and 50 degrees latitude. This region offers the best climate and growing conditions for the myriad of grape varieties.

The south of England just creeps in at 50 degrees latitude so that’s just at the northern limit for wine ripening. This is because there is barely enough warmth, sunshine and length of summer to allow for the grapes to reach adequate sugar ripeness. Poor summer conditions will lead to wine being 'thin', under developed and even sour.

More sun equals more sugar which brings bigger alcohol and more fruit. So we need better summers and longer seasons.

What we already have is good soil, similar to wine areas in France. Limestone soils   found in the Loire Valley already produce the best wines in the world from Sancerre to Vouvray and similar to the soils in Champagne.

This same 'chalk' is quite visible on the white cliffs of Dover and runs through the wine producing districts in the south. Chalk soils can deliver fantastic mineral, steely quality wine.

So we have the right soil and the climate... almost.

Over 400 wine producers in England are now producing white wines, floral and fruity with great acidity and some reds, but the real success are the sparkling wines, reminiscent of champagne, and already in blind tastings beating the French.

So let's hope this climate change starts to warm us instead of drowning us and then we can celebrate with a fabulous chilled Nyetimber Blanc de Blanc from West Sussex!

Food & Wine by Paul Sheerin
Pshearse@gmail.com