Take a weekend away to tour, taste and stay at an English vineyard, and you’ll discover breezy, light wines with hints of summer fruits
T
he best time to visit an English vineyard as a punter is right now (in my opinion, of course, but surely a personal column doesn’t need that caveat every week). Hear me out: in winter, a vineyard is all gnarled wood and hard soil, which is an aesthetic I can get behind (no surprise there), but it’s perhaps not the most evocative for drinkers who want a sense of place. Winter is a good time to visit as trade, mind, because the winemaker actually has time to think about their answers to your questions, rather than panicking about whether they should have waited to bring in the ortega.
Then there’s summer: the grapes are hanging pregnant on the vine, it’s sunny, it’s sublime, but there’s simply too much work to do. As a visitor, you always feel as if you’re standing in the wrong place and you feel a bit guilty asking for a tour. But in late spring and early summer, there’s a gentle hum of anticipation. Things are about to get started.
Most British wineries are concentrated down south (sorry, fellow northerners), and one region in particular really pulls in the wine tourists: Sussex. It is, like most regions in the south of England, known for producing sparkling wine, and received a PDO (protected designation of origin) in 2022. To get the PDO, Sussex sparkling must be made in the traditional, champagne-style method, and it must also be approved by an accredited organisation that’s part of the Food Standards Agency.
