Roman era to 19th century The
Romans introduced winemaking to the UK, in a
period with a relatively warm climate. Their vineyards were as far north as
Northamptonshire and
Lincolnshire, with others in
Buckinghamshire and
Cambridgeshire, and probably many other sites. The wines were most likely fruity and sweet, fermented with added honey, and drunk within six months. Winemaking continued at least down to the time of the
Normans, with over 40 vineyards in England mentioned in the
Domesday Book; much of it was
communion wine for the
Eucharist. From the Middle Ages, the English market was the main customer of
clarets from
Bordeaux, France, helped by the
Plantagenet kingdom, which included England and large provinces in France. When
Henry VIII was crowned in 1509, 139 vineyards were recorded, 11 of which produced wine for the royal household. In the early 16th century, wine was expensive for most commoners, therefore an Act from 1536 decreed that wine imported from France would have a price ceiling, with those imported from Greece and especially Spain with an even higher maximum selling price, most likely due to its better perceived quality. In the 18th century, the
Methuen Treaty of 1703 imposed high duties on French wine. This led to the English becoming a main consumer of sweet
fortified wines like sherry,
port wine, and
Madeira wine from Spain and
Portugal. Fortified wine became popular because unlike regular wine, it did not spoil after the long journey from Portugal to England. Just as English wine began to recover from the epidemics of
phylloxera and powdery mildew in the mid-19th century, brought back by the explorers of America, commercial English wine was dealt a heavy blow. In 1860, the government, under
Lord Palmerston (Liberal), supported free trade and drastically cut the tax on imported wines from 1 shilling to twopence, a decrease of 83%. English wine was therefore outcompeted by superior foreign products that could be sold at a lower cost to the customer.
20th century The twilight of British winemaking tradition was brought to an end with the onset of the
First World War, as the need for crops and food, and the rationing of sugar, took priority over wine production. For the first time in 2000 years, English wines were no longer being produced. In 1936, George Ordish planted vines in Wessex and the South of England. With many individuals keen to produce their own wines from home, and with equipment and methods becoming available, the government outlawed the production of homemade alcohol at the beginning of the 1960s, only to retract the law after five years as the
homebrew fashion escalated considerably. Other small commercial vineyards in Britain followed in the 1960s with growers such as Joy and Trevor Bates in Kent, Norman Cowderoy in West Sussex, Nigel Godden in Somerset, Gillian Pearkes in Devon and Philip Tyson-Woodcock in East Sussex. Wales also had George Jones, Lewis Mathias and Margaret Gore-Browne. Viticulture was revived in the 1970s onwards, possibly helped by a rising local temperature due to
global warming, making many parts of
Hampshire,
Sussex,
Kent,
Essex,
Suffolk,
Berkshire,
Nottinghamshire and
Cambridgeshire dry and hot enough to grow grapes of high quality. The first English wines were influenced by the sweet German wines like
Liebfraumilch and
Hock that were popular in the 1970s, and were blended white and red sweet wines, called "cream wine" (creams). The largest vineyard in England was Denbies Wine Estate in
Surrey, which has under vines. From a peak of over 400 vineyards in the late 1980s, by 2000 one third of these had given up, but plantings have since accelerated, helped by the growing success of English sparkling wines. In 2004, a panel judging European sparkling wines awarded most of the top ten positions to English wines – the remaining positions going to French Champagnes. Similar results have encouraged an explosion of sparkling wine plantings. English
still wines too have begun to pick up awards at big wine competitions, notably Decanter, and the IWSC.
Winemaking has spread from the South East and South West and also to the Midlands and North of England, with
Yorkshire,
Nottinghamshire,
Shropshire,
Derbyshire,
Leicestershire and
Lancashire boasting at least one vineyard each as of 2007.
21st century Significant plantings have been made across the south of the country, with a number of farmers contract growing vines for major English producers. Farmers are looking at the potential benefits of growing vines, as the return per tonne for grapes over more traditional crops is substantial. A field of wheat might yield 3 tonnes per acre at around £120 per tonne. Growing grapes could yield 3 to 4 tonnes per acre at around £950 to £1100 per tonne. One concern is that growers need to invest money for no initial return, as crops tend to come in the third or fourth year. Another concern is that grape production in the climate is highly variable: "In England, it is only in about 2 years in every 10 that grape production will be really good, 4 years will be average and 4 years poor or terrible – largely due to weather and/or disease exacerbated by weather." However, English vineyards share European weather patterns, so 2006 was a bumper year, 2007 saw ripe grapes but low volumes, 2008 was very poor, but both 2009 and 2010 were good years. 2011 was average, 2012 dreadful, and 2013 good. Total British cereal production is not so variable. Another explanation for the growth in viticulture in the UK is the
local food movement, and the desire by consumers to cut the amount of
food miles connected with the produce that they buy, including locally produced wine. English wine was given added prestige when Queen Camilla (then Duchess of Cornwall) became the new President of the United Kingdom Vineyards Association on 25 July 2011. In June 2012 there was also a boost for English wine during the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen
Elizabeth II. Since
Brexit and law change, labelling of geographical origin is no more needed and it is possible to have wine with less than 8.5% of alcohol including wine without alcohol. ==Grape varieties==