Sales of English wine are booming, soaring by nearly 70 per cent over the least two years, at least according to the industry body. There are now shelves devoted to English wine in just about every large supermarket.
I even tried a red wine by a local producer, who had better remain nameless. It tasted like a cross between cough medicine and Vimto
Since I live in West Sussex, the heart of one of the English wine-growing regions, I feel I ought to like it. No fewer than three of the major wine-producers – Nyetimber, Nutbourne and Kinsbrook – are nearby. The daily dog-walk takes me through their huge vineyards and I try to take some interest in the grapes and how they’re faring (they currently look like tiny green berries). Yet English wine still leaves me as cold as a glass of Hampshire chardonnay and that’s thanks to the mad prices charged for the stuff.
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