Although England is classically known as a lager and ale kind of country, the British do enjoy their wine. At one point in time when the climate was a bit warmer the British started producing their own wine instead of importing it from other countries. Wine was cheap and plentiful during the medieval ages. Then came the mini ice-age during the 1500’s, the up-and-coming wine industry dried up and wine once again had to be imported from France, Spain, and Italy.
Growing Grapes in Earnest
Vineyards began popping up again in Britain during the 1970’s. In 2006 there were around 400 vineyards in Southern England with a combined area of approximately 2000 acres. Not very large in comparison to places devoted to viticulture like Spain or France, but it’s speculated that global warming may tip the scales in favor of Britain’s burgeoning wine industry.
There is evidence to support this idea, at least with certain varietals – winemakers in Britain have greatly increased their sparkling wine production. Agricultural production for sparkling wine varietals (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier) has doubled in the last three years with more plantings soon to come.
Sparkling Wine Success
Success has come quickly to winemakers of English sparkling wine. With climate and soils similar to France’s Champagne region, winemakers from Britain are now competing with the French for the best in sparkling wines.
Nyetimber Vineyards are a shining example. The vineyard was created by Stuart and Sandy Moss specifically to rival the best estates of France. Nyetimber has won countless awards since the release of its wines in 1996. According to Stephen Skelton of the Wine Report 2008, Nyetimber wines got a further stamp of approval when rumor had it that the Queen and her guests drank it to toast the new millennium.
Little Demand in Britain
Currently British wine supplies only 1% of domestic demand for wine, yet there is an historical reason for this supposed lack of demand of Britains’s domestic consumption.
Expensive Tariffs
During the second World War when Britain needed to generate war revenue, it imposed import tariffs. These were specific tariffs of a certain amount levied on a per bottle or gallon of wine basis and they introduced an artificial bias against cheap wine. For example, if a levied tariff is $10/bottle, this price increase is not that much to a consumer who is willing to pay $100 for a bottle of wine. But if you add the same across-the-board tariff to a $5 of wine the effects are tremendous. The price of the wine jumps to $15. Who wants to pay that much for a $5 of wine?
A Beer Brewing Monopoly
British brewers were than able to take advantage of technological advances in beer production. This resulted in making a lot of beer on the cheap, and they were able to corner a monopoly on the market for British spirits. By creating a demand for cheap beer they could then build massive factories to satisfy the demand at low prices to themselves.
Brewers didn’t mind being taxed at fairly high rates in return for tariff protection from imported wine because this tactic gave them a large captive market willing to swill lots of lager and ale.
The Common Market and Margaret Thatcher
A cork was put in this convenient arrangement when Britain entered the Common Market and Margaret Thatcher’s market reforms took hold of the country. Britain was required to synchronize its wine tariffs with its European partners. These developments created an environment where British wine demand could return by removing the wine bias against popularly priced wines. Wine was then allowed to be marketed widely and competitively, especially through supermarket chains like Costco’s and Sainsbury’s.
Future Trends
Because of the climate British vineyards will always produce relatively low yields compared to most of Europe. That doesn’t have to be a disadvantage if you are a grower specializing in high quality varietals, but it does mean that production costs will be higher compared to world competition.
Even so, British wine is prepared to play a small yet crucial role in worldwide wine production and consumption.
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