Drink
ENGLISH WINE Gustav Temple meets a David and a Goliath of wine production in East Sussex, to find out all the whys and wherefores of this burgeoning industry
A
s with most matters concerning these fair isles, as soon as one sets foot in any particular department, the whole English v British question comes up, and this is particularly true of the wine produced on these shores. And with another negative consequence of Brexit being the threat of prices for our beloved European wine slowly increasing, we should take note that, simultaneously, our climactic temperatures are also increasing. Is there a future for English wine as a full replacement for the wines of Tuscany, Bordeaux and Rioja? I set forth into the valleys of East Sussex to meet two gentlemen who were qualified to inform me, and whether we should be calling it English or British wine.
“It’s more complicated here than in southern Europe, where the wine regions like Lombardy or Tuscany are within both geological and political boundaries. Sussex is only a political boundary, so it becomes difficult to distinguish it geologically from Kent or Hampshire, but the Sussex Sparkling PDO is a good start” 102
