ENGLISH WINE COMES OF AGE

Published: 23 July, 2008

By Christian Davis

With a 2002 harvest that was good in quality if not huge in quantity, and the leading English wine producers reporting significant listings and healthy sales among the major multiple retailers, English wine is taking off. New Wave Wines has successfully raised 500,000 on the Ofex exchange and plans to nearly double production to 900,000 bottles by 2008. Denbies claims that it had 300,000 visitors last year and that on-site sales were up 30%, and wholesale up 207%. Nicholas Ingham, sales director of Three Choirs, told Harpers that it not only supplies Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Waitrose, Morrisons and The Wine Society, but is also now sending its wine to the French supermarket chain Monoprix, as well as exporting to Germany, among other countries. Ingham said that Gloucestershire-based Three Choirs managed to achieve good yields as well as good quality. For years, English wines have struggled to find the right place in the market,' he said. We are coming of age - no longer just the "second cousin to German wine"; we are more confident about who we are and what we are.' Ingham believes people are looking for fruitier, more aromatic wines, which is good news for English wine producers. Three Choirs boasts significant plantings of Phoenix, a Bacchus/ Seyve-Villard cross. With the English Wine Producers' trade tasting taking place on St George's Day (23 April) at Vinopolis, and English Wine Week (24 May-1 June). For more information on the above events, contact Julia Trustram-Eve on 01536 772264; e-mail: info@englishwineproducers.com; visit: www.english wineproducers.com

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