Warm weather has created strong flavours that some say means fruit that’s ripe enough for still wine
UK vineyards are getting ready for a vintage year – and a very early harvest – with the warm, sunny weather caused by the heating climate delivering strong flavours in their grapes.
Across the UK the total amount of wine produced is likely to be up on last year. English growers alone added more than 1,000 hectares of vines in 2024, taking the total to 4,841, of which 3,763 was in active production in 2024, according to the industry body Wine GB.
Winemaking in the UK has expanded rapidly in recent years owing to farmers in Europe facing increasingly erratic weather prompted by the climate crisis, including droughts and extreme heat.
The UK industry is also recovering after a dire 2024 in which production shrank to 10.7m bottles, from 21.6m the year before, after “inclement weather and recurrent rainfall” led to more disease, such as downy mildew, according to a recent WineGB report.
