. And Henkell Freixenet, which has its feet in grape-squashing regions including champagne and prosecco, bought Sussex's Bolney Wine Estate at the beginning of this year – a clear signal of where it thought the world's wine industry was heading. Amongst the rows of flourishing grapes that sprung up in some of the UK's prettiest stretches of countryside, another industry is also enjoying its moment in the sun – wine tourism. A lack of international travel during the pandemic has accelerated its rise and makers are rushing to add restaurants and rooms to their estates. English wine is creating a bit of a buzz abroad too, with trade organisation WineGB running recent masterclasses in sparkling varieties in Japan and Germany. It's even piqued the interest of French holidaymakers: continental travellers can now book gourmet tours that combine our finest vintages with the 'specialities of the country': English breakfasts, fish and chips and 'pudding'. They'll get a surprise if they visit the UK's oldest commercial vineyard, Hampshire's Hambledon next year, when the doors open at its much-hyped new restauran){kind=link}
Pop-up events and dog-loving winemakers are making the UK’s vineyard scene a refreshing change from the stuffy cellars across the Channel
The terroir may be archetypically British, with neat squares of vine-filled field ending in scruffy hedgerows that loom over the country lanes, but the vines of southern England have recently caught the attention of three very well-known international sparkling wine producers: the champagne houses of Pommery and Taittinger and the Cava behemoth Henkell Freixenet. All have bought vineyards in the region, hoping to capitalise on a booming UK wine industry.
Pommery was the first to notice the country’s potential: It’s been producing sparkling English wine in Hampshire since 2018 under the name ‘Louis Pommery’. Meanwhile Taittinger’s first British bottles, made from grapes grown in Kent, will be sold from 2024 and labelled Domaine Evremond (after Charles de Saint-Evremond, a writer who first fuelled the UK’s love of champagne when he brought it to the court of Charles II). And Henkell Freixenet, which has its feet in grape-squashing regions including champagne and prosecco, bought Sussex’s Bolney Wine Estate at the beginning of this year – a clear signal of where it thought the world’s wine industry was heading.
Amongst the rows of flourishing grapes that sprung up in some of the UK’s prettiest stretches of countryside, another industry is also enjoying its moment in the sun – wine tourism. A lack of international travel during the pandemic has accelerated its rise and makers are rushing to add restaurants and rooms to their estates.
English wine is creating a bit of a buzz abroad too, with trade organisation WineGB running recent masterclasses in sparkling varieties in Japan and Germany. It’s even piqued the interest of French holidaymakers: continental travellers can now book gourmet tours that combine our finest vintages with the “specialities of the country”: English breakfasts, fish and chips and “pudding”.