British winemaking is on the up.  We have just had English Wine Week, with a focus on getting wine enthusiasts out to English vineyards and wine events. 

Winemaking was on the agenda on the first day of Groundswell, the regenerative agriculture showcase.   Their session of course focused on regenerative vineyards, but had a broader appeal as well, as a primer on a crop that is not well known to British growers.   

As well as dropping some great pub facts - did you know that modern English winemaking was kicked off by servicemen returning to farms from national service in Germany after WW2, who had acquired a taste for German wines? - the session provided an insight into another type of growing that has not been focused-on in Britain, and in particular on another view of climate change.  

Compared with our normal discussions around the impact of climate change, the approach of the speakers was to focus on the crop, where the changing climate presents a different picture, bringing Britain into viability as a cool-climate wine producer, and emphasising the impact of climate on this crop.  These direct quotes from the speakers are illustrative:

   “the climate is tricky, but has got a lot better.“

  “harvest dates have shifted forward by a month since 1995. That’s pretty insane.“

Producing wine is certainly not going to radically change the British landscape, at least outside of the very long term, but in the wine producing countries, that is seen as the pinnacle of their agricultural production.  British volumes will remain low, but a reputation has been acquired by British sparkling wine, and that bodes well for other types of British wine, for for a halo effect on other specialist British agricultural products.

As for regenerative vineyards, a key point is the use of significant plant cover between the vines, to retain moisture in the soil and deter pests.  Having conventional and regenerative, organic and biodynamic of styles of vine growing in Britain will present us with a variety of ideas of how the countryside could adapt to a warmer climate.