English wine: Future trends
What are your opinions on the quality of this year’s vintage?
Caines: 2016 was a really great summer, but we had a late frost which effected yield with a similar pattern repeating itself in 2017, but we got the quality eventually. 2018 has been great for weather so far and so this should hopefully be a good vintage, we hope for this magnificent sun to continue into the latter part of the growing season so that our grapes can be harvested at their best, which is quite a crucial bit of timing, so let’s wait and see.
What do you think are the next trends in English wine?
Caines: Single vineyard status is becoming more important as well as sorting out the quality and the labelling. We need to consider if it is right to import juices from other areas across England into another region/area and then label it as if they have been grown there and also think about the quality of the wine making process to build more confidence in sparkling and still wine as well as straight and blended wines.
Add to this the techniques being used such as barrow fermentation and ageing and that we are also seeing a lot of good talent coming to England from France, and indeed other wine areas, so the knowledge, care and attention to detail is getting better in the winemaking. This, along with better quality juice and good acidity, means that while we still may not have the quantities, we are certainly getting there with the quality.
How would you describe the current market for English and Welsh wine, and how do you see this developing in the future?
Caines: We have seen an increase in interest of 64% in wine last year, so English wine is on the up. The quality of sparkling wine is improving and we are now starting to see a lot more award winning wines being produced here in the UK. The key is building the reputation and extending that quality that we now have in sparkling wine into still wine too. We can’t fully exploit English wine because of the limited yields, but we can certainly produce quality for the domestic market.
