English Wine Festival 2004
Hot weather, cool jazz, chilled wine - what more could you want? And though it was September 4th it was very warm indeed and the sky really was this colour - pale blue with not a cloud in sight.

This was the third year at Bentley near Lewes with all its facilities - lawns, picnic tables, tea room, motor museum, the white peacocks wandering amongst the visitors and of course the miniature railway. Next year the 2005 English Wine Festival is moving back to its spiritual home at Alfriston.

English Wine Festival

No doubt some people would be put off going to the English Wine Festival because they "don't know anything about wine". Well, don't be put off. If you can manage to say "can I try that one please?" you have all the knowledge you'll need to enjoy the English Wine Festival in 2005.


The Festival really is very good value for money. We arrived at 10.45am and left after 5pm - where else can you get a day's entertainment for £10? And now I think about it, we didn't even have time to see the motor museum.

When you arrive - plenty of parking - you get a (free) tasting glass and can wander round to your heart's content tasting the wines (free!). There must have been well over a hundred different English wines to try ranging from Champagne-beating bubbly to surprisingly good reds.

In addition to surfing the wine and food stalls three events were offered, again all included in the admission price. At 11.30 you could choose between a tutored wine tasting, tutored cheese tasting or a cookery demonstration, each lasting about 45 minutes. These were repeated at 12.45, 2.30 and 3.45. When we arrived the organisers would only let us have tickets for one event so that latecomers didn't find everything booked up, but it transpired that if you went back to the desk just before the scheduled times tickets were usually still available, and we managed to do a cheese tasting, a cookery demonstration and two tutored wine tastings - one on medium whites and one on rosés.


The wine tasting was run by the redoubtable Christopher Ann. Christopher founded the English Wine Festival in 1975. He told us that the wine producers who came along that first year had an ulterior motive: industrial espionage. In those early days English vineyards were hobby businesses run by enthusiasts who did everything: planted the vines, tended the grapes and made the wine. They came along to see how their wine compared with others and to steal any good ideas they could. In those days before fancy stalls, banners or leaflets, a simple blackboard announced the stall-holders' wares. Nowadays people are increasingly specializing either in growing grapes or in wine making, and the winemakers in particular are getting their marketing act together - entering (and winning) high profile competitions and placing their wines in prestige outlets. Carter's even have a white wine called Lovejoy - the author lives near the vineyard.


Amaze your friends with your knowledge of English wine. Try this quiz on them. Information courtesy of Christopher Ann's entertaining tasting talk.

  • What percentage of the wine drunk in England is made in England?
  • Which English winery makes 25% of all the wine made in England?
  • Why in 50 years time will it become difficult to make good Champagne in Champagne?
  • Why are top Champagne producers scouring southern England looking for land to buy?
  • Why can you drink lots of English wine without getting a headache?

    (Answers at the bottom of the page.)


    • It was interesting to talk to growers and winemakers to see how things are changing. In the early days of English wine, vines such as Muller Thurgau (white) and Triomphe d'Alsace (red) were amongst the most commonly planted. Now, forty years on from those pioneering days, new vine varieties are available and we know the foibles of those early varieties. Muller suffers from mildew and nobody would plant it today. New varieties such as Phoenix (white) and Regent (red) ripen well in our climate, are very mildew resistant and most importantly produce very good wine in the hands of the skilled winemaker. And English winemakers are getting very good at it indeed.

    One surprise was a 1996 white wine, Harden Vale made from Schonburger. Even at 8 years old it was still fresh as a daisy. Only 10 cases left though. And Christopher Ann told of a 1983 Muller Thurgau that is still in fine fettle. A 21 year old white wine, pretty good going.


    Did you know you can tell the sweetness of a wine by counting the wasps?

    Ever had a glass of Champagne and not been that keen on another? Try English sparklers - our longer, cooler summers result in a less acidic and creamier champa..., er, sparkling white wine.

    Ridgeview Estates Knightsbridge sparkling wine - we can't call it Champagne but it is made in the same way as Champagne - recently won a silver medal at the Vinalis show in France. Due in part to this success Champagne growers are reputedly becoming interested in setting up shop here, much as growers from Bordeaux have established vineyards in places like South America.

    English Wine Festival

    Answers to quiz.

  • Only one quarter of one percent of the wine we drink is made in England. It illustrates just how small the English wine industry is. But it's growing in quantity and in quality.
  • Tenterden in Kent makes about 25% of all the wine made in England. They don't grow anything like that amount of grapes - they make wine from many other English grape growers' crops.
  • In 50 years or so it will be too warm to make good Champagne in Champagne - if you believe the global warming warnings.
  • And that's why French Champagne houses are reputedly looking for land in our cooler climes. (And did you know that the other end of the Paris basin geological formation, which is where Champagne is, surfaces in southern England?)
  • English summers are longer and cooler than, say, French or Australian summers. This results in grapes that yield less headache-inducing substances during the wine making process. Christopher Ann has, in the interests of research, consumed considerable quantities of various wines to confirm English wine's relative morning-after gentleness.

    Congratulations to the organisers of the festival. When everything seems just right it isn't by chance it's the result of a lot of hard work and thought.



    • Sampling Clay Hill's wares
    The most northerly exhibitor was from Stratford


    Iron Railway proves you needn't be big to win
    What is this enterprising chap selling?


    Plenty of space to relax before the next round of tasting


    Mary Mudd of Carter's Vineyard in Essex
    Make your own wine - plant some vines in the garden