It’s a bit of a funny time to be British. On the international scene we’re being treated a bit like Uncle Knobhead, you know the one that turns up to all the family gatherings, but everyone’s always a bit tentative about how they’ll act and what they’ll say to upset everyone this time. So we have to look inside the country to come up with something to smile about, and luckily for us wine-o’s, the UK Wine scene has just the cure!
Extra 1 Million Vines
New figures, released this week by the English Wine Producers guild, suggest that an extra 1 million vines are about to be planted in the UK in 2017, which will translate to extra 2 million bottles of sparkling wine. That comes hot on the heels of an uptick of a massive 135% in vine acreage in the last 10 years. UK wine is clearly flying right now.
UK Wine Awards
To mark UK wine flying into the limelight, the industry is coming together to launch the inaugural UK Wine Awards, with UK based wine afficianados such as Oz Clarke, Rebecca Hull MW, Susie Barrie MW, and Hamish Anderson all involved with the selection and tasting duties.
The Next “Wine Thing”
It’s absolutely great to see. I’ve been lucky enough to meet quite a few producers over the past few months, and the underlying confidence these girls and boys have in their products is about to take a massive step forward. Apparently the cool kids of New York are seeing it as the next “wine thing”, and even the French are admitting it’s damn good stuff, with my own company 20h33 exporting English wine to France.
Thanks to all those working in the UK wine industry, giving us something to toast and be positive about.
Cheers
