English wine is in the ascendency: we learned how and why. Our November talk was on a subject close to the heart of many members - a good glass of wine! Wine expert Jonathan Rogers presented his talk “Growing Grapes & Wine Making in England.”
Jonathan has spent 34 years in the business, as a trader, making wine and in retail. He is founder of The Hampshire Vineyards group and organiser of the Hampshire Vineyards Wine Festival. He worked in Australia studying wine, on his return worked in Harrods and is a former manager at Wickham Vineyard. He now has his own wine shop in Emsworth.
Jonathan clarified that “viticulture” is the art of growing grapes and “Oenology” is the art of making wine.
Jonathan ran through the history of the rise of English wine from the Romans and Saxons, who brought their own wine to the time of the Domesday book (1086) when there were 42 record vineyards in the England, through a low following the Destruction of the Monasteries (1536). In 1603 thanks to King James there came a revival and increase of vineyards with a vineyard in Cardiff established thanks to the Marquis of Butz. Then in 1945 Ray Barrington Brook experimented with grape varieties which were suited to the English climate using mainly German varieties, and this is considered the true beginning of English wine followed by the 1st commercial vineyard in 1951, considered “Year 1” for English wine production.
Jonathan then detailed the importance of aspect and soil types, known as “Terroir”, for grape growing in England. The climate is crucial, making wine growing here a bit tricky! The site is important, as it needs to be south facing, ideally on a slope to catch the most sun and also needs loose soil with good drainage so the roots can grow deep to get the most nutrients, hydrogen, oxygen and phosphate are key. The chalk soil and climate of the southern regions of England are similar to the Champagne region of France and therefore prove the best for wine production. The biggest problem for English growers is mildew and the vines are sprayed to help prevent this.
Jonathan went on to explain the different pruning processes. Two methods are “spur” where the “spurs coming of the main “cane” are pruned, and “cane”, where the actual cane itself is pruned.
There are also different ways to grow the vines;
1) The Guyot system using either single or double wires to train the vines onto, this helps to control the yield of the crop, important in the EU where it is regulated.
2) GDC Method – Creates a double curtain mainly for cooler climates, where the vine is separated at the top to get 2 vines high off the ground giving a high yield but the grapes can only be handpicked, not machine picked, and the method also creates a lot of foliage.
3) Bush Vine system – This system leaves the vines unsupported; they effectively grow like bushes, the older vineyards were often planted like this with the plants randomly spaced, some can be as old as 300 or 400 years. The yield is very small and thereby it’s often the most expensive wines. The older vines are also very sculptural, looking old and gnarled and taking on lovely shapes.
When it comes to picking grapes, it was once all by hand, but now the machine makes it much quicker and easier, although there is more work to separate the good grapes from all the other debris a machine will pick up, when the grapes arrive in the sorting area. However, the majority of English wines are hand-picked to ensure the highest quality.
It’s also essential that grapes are picked when they are ready and so are closely monitored, they are picked, put into crates and then time is of the essence to get them processed. Into the press they’ll go with the first press being the premium wine, the second and third press giving less quality. Dry sulphur is then added to stop oxygenation, it’s a preservative and will dissolve in fermentation.
With the traditional method for sparkling wine production, which includes Champagne and Cava, but NOT Prosecco, the wine is initially fermented in a tank, then bottled and yeast added so it goes through a second fermentation within the bottle and are aged between 18 months to 3 years minimum for vintage Champagne. The bottles are put into “riddling racks” where they can be turned regularly so the sediment deposited in them go down to the neck of the bottle, which is then taken out by hand or machine, grape juice is added to make a “sec” or “demi-sec” wine, as fermentation takes out the sugar. The bottles are then corked, labelled and ready for sale.
Prosecco uses a different, simpler “tank” method, where the wine is fermented twice in the tanks, rather than the second fermentation done in the bottle. It is thereby cheaper to produce.
Most of the English wines are produced in the southernmost counties - Kent to Cornwall - with Hampshire making a large contribution. Interestingly Sussex has acquired Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) status for its wine so watch out for that “bottle of Sussex” when out shopping!
The main grape varieties used in English wine production are:
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Bacchus and Seycal, Rondo, as well as a variety of others. Most of the English wines are sparkling, but still wines are also produced with Pinot Noir used for the red and rosé varieties.
But, please!!! Do NOT call them “British wines” as anything under this label is a poor-quality wine produced with grapes coming from anywhere. The high-quality wines are ENGLISH WINES!! Which only use grapes grown in England or Wales!
The last 5 years has seen a 70% increase in the hectarage of vineyards. English wines are exported to Norway, USA, Canada, and Australia and others but jokingly he added that he thought it would be a while until the French sold English wine in Paris!
Katrien Burrows
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