UK wine rivalling Europe as climate crisis brings boom time for British wine

Damp weather and short summers doomed most attempts at winemaking in England centuries ago.

But warmer temperatures, once a threat to global winemaking, have become the unlikely secret behind Britain's booming vineyards.

Chris White, the CEO of Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking, Surrey, has just finished his most successful harvest when it comes to quality grapes.

The boss of the family-run business told how climate change has completely altered the rocketing industry in the UK.

He said: "We've noticed over the last 30-odd years that the growing season has changed quite dramatically. Religiously, we used to start picking our grapes in early October and finish towards the end of the month, it sometimes edged into November.

"This year we started on the 5th of September and finished on the 16th of October. It's incredible how much that has switched over the last three decades."

The bustling industry has led to Champagne Taittinger buying 171 acres of land in Kent to establish a UK vineyard.

Spanish producers have also put investment into England as higher temperatures in Europe impact growing there.

Chris said: "There's obviously warmer conditions over the summer. With climate change, we have noticed you do get quite extremes during the years on occasion but more often than not, we're getting less frost during the crucial times of the year. We seem to get a longer ripening period which is good for viticulture in the UK."

In 2024, Denbies Wine Estate became the first vineyard and winery in the UK to produce net zero wines.

Sitting within the Surrey Hills, England's largest vineyard has put sustainability at the heart of it.

Vineyard manager Olly Whitfield, who joined the company in July 2022, pointed to the newest visitors on the land as an example of their commitments - Denbies' resident sheep.

Talking about the trial, he said: "We've been working with the local shepherd since the beginning of the year. This is for a couple of reasons. Obviously, it will reduce our mowing costs. We're also planning on doing trials of leaf stripping during the summer season with the sheep. "They'll take the leaves off around the berries which allows the sunshine to get to the berries to allow for better ripening. And they shouldn't eat the berries. Before the sheep, we've been mowing with our tractors - we still do - this is very early in our sheep operations, as it were."

Chris added that occasionally it is so wet that the tractor battles to do it.

Olly also told how climate change still presents its challenges for the firm.

He had to get creative to ward off "thousands" of pigeons feasting on their grapes last year because poor conditions left them unable to find berries in hedgerows.

Denbies deterred the birds using kites and bangers to scare the birds away.

Olly said that about 20% of the crops were eaten by the birds in 2024, while another 20% was lost to mildew and other natural factors.

But the chalk soils stretching from the Cliffs of Dover means Denbies can consistently produce a wide range of wine styles of high quality.

Denbies' wines are produced from a variety of grapes suited to cool-climate wine production, including Bacchus, Ortega, Reichensteiner and Rondo - as well as classic varieties such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Cellar master Andy Kershaw has the great pleasure of experimenting with the grapes and creating special blends, including an Ortega dessert wine which he describes as "Christmas in a glass".

Talking about how the warmer temperatures are boosting creativity, Chris said: "The quality, and what you can do with those grapes, is far greater. Rather than just using the pinot noir for sparkling wines, for example, where you need a little bit of the acidity and the flavours you need for a sparkling wine, we can also make those into a rosé or even, like this year, into a really high quality red wine as well which was unheard of years ago."