"Vines in a Cold Climate"
For my podcast, I recently interviewed Henry Jeffreys who last year published Vines in a Cold Climate, which is about the development of English (and, to a lesser extent, Welsh) wine. The book is timely because English sparkling wine has become extremely fashionable, and there should be many readers who want to know all about the wines and how England went from being solely a wine-drinking country to also a wine-producing country.
That development has been a revolution more than an evolution. There were tentative plantings in the 1960s and 70s, but they were often hobbyists with no expectation of quality wine being made. Because of England’s wet, cool climate, German varieties, often either crossings or hybrids, were planted: it was considered impossible to ripen French varieties. Designed for Germany’s cool climate, the wines had searingly high acidity—Jeffreys cites wines as high as 25g/l TA.
That began to change in the late 1980s. Plumpton College was founded in 1987, and became a centre for research into the potential for quality English wine and the foundation for many winemakers who led the revolution in the industry. A US couple, Sandy and Stuart Moss, bought an historic property in 1988, and Sandy studied at Plumpton to learn how to make wine: Nyetimber were the first to be internationally recognised. Ridgeview were founded around the same time, and these two producers remain benchmarks for English sparkling wine.
As Jeffreys comments, it makes so much sense to make sparkling wine in south-east England that it’s a wonder no one had done it before. The soils are similar to those of Champagne, which is the nearest wine region, and the climate is equally miserable. Given the role the English played in the development of Champagne and how much the rich aristocracy drinks of it, it’s astonishing that it took a couple from the US to take the plunge and be at the centre of the foundation of modern English sparkling wine.
Since these early steps, everything has been different. German varieties have been replaced by Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and, less so, Meunier. Pinot Précose, an earlier ripening version of Pinot Noir, is also planted. As the industry has grown, there has been huge investment from local English millionaires, from France (Taittinger, under the Domaine Evremond label, are about to release their first vintage), Germany/Spain (Henkell-Freixenet), and California (Kendall-Jackson). These are big companies who sense that with climate change English sparkling wine has a strong future.
Alongside climate change, better understanding of viticulture and site have led to an improvement in still wine. Jeffreys predicts that within the next ten years, Chardonnay will be considered a serious alternative to Burgundy. Bacchus is an interesting equivalent to Sauvignon Blanc. Pinot Gris maintains acidity, with some body. Still wine remains in the early stages of development, but there is potential for the wines to become extremely interesting.
It is, of course, the bubbles that draw us into English wine and are the prime reason to read the book. But Vines in a Cold Climate goes beyond that: it’s a great read, personable and fresh. It features a large number of personalities whose stories are wonderful to read about, with characters who have driven English wine from nothing to one of the most interesting wine industries to follow right now. This is a story of wine, place, people, the unexpected, ongoing change, the old and the new.
listen to the interview on patreon.com/mattswineworld
