In article , Sacha wrote:

Edward Hyams was among the first to reintroduce vines as wine growing
plants to UK. http://www.molash.com/archive/hyams.htm He grew several
here and in Kent before he moved and they were not a total success.
Otoh, Sharpham Vineyard on the banks of the Dart, about 30 minutes
drive from here on a busy day, produces delicious wine. We do have
commercial vineyards but not in the thousands and thousands of bottles
that can be produced in e.g. Bordeaux.

There are very mixed views about whether their wine is ever
delicious, but let that pass.

Sharpham and Camel Valley win many awards. The latter has, iirc,
beaten some French wines. I don't know how many you've drunk but we
have often lunched at Sharpham and enjoyed their wines, so we do have
some first hand experience. I'm not arguing about viability, merely
commenting.

When I first started trying them, the English wine lobby kept
claiming I had just been unlucky. After half-a dozen attempts,
I doubted that and, after a dozen, I was certain. Eventually,
I found a semi-expert who didn't merely spout the party line,
and my suspicions were confirmed.

While they do win medals, and are often good of their kind,
they are ALL thin and 'lightly flavoured' (which, in a foreign
wine, would be described less politely) - nowhere in the UK
gets enough sun to ripen even the special varieties developed
for the UK to produce more than that. And many wine buffs
don't like that sort of thing; you can see the evidence in
books etc. by experts - some laud English wines and others
damn with faint praise.

Every winemaker I have visited have said that they chapitalise
as a matter of routine (most always do it), and that is a
sure sign of poor ripening. Indeed, that was originally
permitted specifically as a way of producing a marketable
plonk in a year when the grapes wouldn't ripen properly.

Personally, I regret that we have downplayed our cider and
perry, which we CAN produce well.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.