At the turn of the century, English wine was rarely on the menu. In recent years however, it has grown in both volume and appeal: retail sales for wine made from grapes grown in England and Wales are predicted to rise to £100m this year.

The professional body English Wine Producers (EWP) says the industry produced a record-breaking 6.3m bottles last year and predicts another bumper year in 2015.

“We seem to be continually breaking our own records and the 2014 figures surpass everything,” says Julia Trustram Eve, marketing director at EWP. “There’s no doubt about it, English wines really are on an upward trajectory.”

An industry previously composed of enthusiasts and hobbyists has now taken on a considerably more serious outlook, with commercial investors and entrepreneurs focused on long-term business plans. Among them is Frazer Thompson, CEO of Chapel Down, which last year produced around 1m bottles of wine and revenues of more than £6m.

“The industry has moved on: there has been more focus on the grape varieties that we should be planting. We’ve learned from the lessons of the past and the technology has moved on, too,” he says. “But also, money has been poured into it from seriously heavyweight investors who are taking a long-term view. That’s key with wine.”

According to EWP, there are nearly 572 commercial vineyards in the UK and wines made from these grapes are known as English wine (even those that come from Scotland’s four vineyards). The south-east has 145 vineyards with the largest producer, Chapel Down, competing with brands such as Gusbourne, Nyetimber and Ridgeview.

There are many more vineyards along the south coast, such as Camel Valley (Cornwall) and the Furleigh Estate (Dorset). Meanwhile, the Midlands is home to no less than 92 vineyards, including Castle Brook in the Herefordshire Wye Valley and Halfpenny Green near Wolverhampton.

Their main product is sparkling wine, which accounts for more than two thirds of overall production. The reasons for this are straightforward; sparkling commands a better price than still, but also the quality of English fizz is deemed to be high. However, there remains little appetite among producers to follow the French or Italians in declaring a regional classification for “English fizz” along the lines of Champagne or Prosecco. Some have suggested that English sparkling could be called “Sussex”, but Frazer of Chapel Down is far from impressed.

“We are trying to create a brand, and brands are the most important thing for customers to get their heads around. PDOs [Protected Designation of Origin] just protect landowners. Can you even name one Prosecco brand? We just call it English fizz or English sparkling wine. Obviously I’d like people to ask for a Chapel Down, but I don’t want people to ask for a Sussex,” he says.

The English wine revival is certainly being helped by the renaissance in English food. Chefs want local wine to go with their locally sourced food, and English wine is now on the menus of restaurants owned by Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal, Jamie Oliver and a long line of other high-end restaurants. During English Wine Week (23–31 May), the restaurant Roast in Borough Market is offering a set menu where every dish is accompanied by a glass of English wine.

Chris Chinn is a partner at Castle Brook vineyard, created on his family farm in 2004. He says provenance and the desire to buy local has been a major boon to his business.

“Provenance is increasingly important to consumers, so buying products that are grown or made in the UK is, by and large, their preference,” he says. “More and more high-profile chefs are including English wines on their menus, which in turn helps to build consumers’ trust.”

Despite its recent growth, English wine production remains a long way behind France or Italy in terms of volume. France produces around 7bn to 8bn bottles per year; over 1,000 times more than England and Wales. But for English winemakers this is no real concern. Unlike the French they are servicing a market where demand outstrips supply, and customers can be evangelical about their favoured brands.

Ben Walgate runs Gusbourne Estate, which planted its vines in 2004 and now sells about 40,000 bottles of sparkling wine a year. He says his team have learned skills from overseas, but are ultimately aiming to create a unique product.

“All of our team are ‘home grown’, even though they have spent time abroad honing their skills. We want to express our own vineyards in the finished wine, not just to imitate the world’s most famous sparkling wine.”

Climate and weather is always a big discussion point for the industry, with some arguing that climate change is helping the UK wine industry. Rebecca Hansford owns Furleigh Estate in Dorset which was established in 2005 and typically makes 50,000 bottles per year. However, the hot summer of 2014 meant production soared to 120,000 bottles. She also says the UK climate is now perfect for sparkling wine.

“Global warming has helped. Increasing temperatures mean our climate now has roughly the same number of warm days as they had in the Champagne region in the 1970s,” she says. “The English climate is especially suitable for producing sparkling wine, because we do not have steady high temperatures, so the grapes retain some of the acidity that is desirable in a sparkling wine.”

Nonetheless, bad weather can lead to poor harvests, and this affects both the quality and quantity of the wine. There are good years and bad ones, so this is one industry that an entrepreneur should only enter with a long-term view.

As Thompson of Chapel Down says: “Creating a vineyard takes vision. You have to acquire land, which isn’t easy. Then, after you have planted, it takes three years to get grapes and it is seven years before you have a bottle worth selling. It requires vision and absolute belief in what you are doing. Winemakers are a pretty determined and feisty lot.”

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