"The History of English Wine"

January 2004 Meeting Report

Guest Speaker - Tony Skuriat

 

Wine has been made in England since Roman times. In AD90 the growing of vines was banned, though this probably did not apply to the army of occupation. Roman soldiers and administrators often served 20-year terms in overseas postings, and would need regular refreshment from their favourite tipple. The ban on ‘native’ vineyards was lifted in AD276.

There are sporadic references to wine dating from the so-called Dark Ages, among others from the writings of The Venerable Bede in the eighth century, and of King Alfred in the ninth. Domesday (1086) records 41 vineyards, and there were probably more that were not recorded.

In the Middle Ages vineyards were associated with monasteries. Wine-drink­ing was given a boost when, in 1152, Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine, thus adding to his domain south-west France, where wine was and remains the staple drink. By the mid-14th century, when Aquitaine reverted to France and wine had become an established part of the English drinks menu, at least among the privileged, links were developed with Portugal and the port-producing wineries near the city of Oporto.

Immediately before the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s, there were 139 vineyards in England. Dissolution dealt a blow to wine pro­duction, as many of those with expertise in both vineyard cultivation and making wine lost their jobs, while most of the monastic land confiscated by Henry VIII was sold to lay landowners who were not interested in viticulture. Nevertheless, until 1920 there was always some wine being produced in England. In I875 the Marquis of Bute established a vineyard at Castle Koch, west of Cardiff, from where high-quality wine was produced until 1920. With its closure there appears to have been a period of thirty years during which no commercial wine was produced in Britain.

The recent revival of viticulture dates from 1952, first at Hambledon, south of Guildford in Surrey. In 1965 the English Vineyards Association was formed. By 1990 there were I000 hectares of vines in England, distributed among 450 vineyards – i.e., the total area added up to little more than that of the parish of Keyworth, and the average vineyard was only about 2 hectares or the size of Keyworth recreation ground. Most were located south of the Thames, with diminishing densities towards the west and midlands. Mr Skuriat’s vineyard in Costock is one of the most northerly in the country. During the last decade there has been some decline, to current figures of 820 hectares and 320 vineyards.

Part of the recent decline is due to the ease with which wine can be brought from France, which particularly affects wine-production in Kent. Most continental producers pay no duty on direct sales: duty is paid only by wine merchants. In Britain all sales by producers are subject to duty.

England is close to the northern margins of profitable vine cultivation. The cooler summers than those experienced in most of France, for instance, limit the varieties of grape that can be grown – which accounts for the fact that some 80% of English wines are white, while their sugar and alcohol content are lower than those of most of their competitors. It is also the reason why viticulture is still conducted on a small scale: English wine accounts for only 0.02% of wine consumption in this country.