Barry Anderson, the head grower at the award-winning Leonardslee winery in West Sussex, joked this week that there are only two types of landscape that remain green amid England’s sweltering summer – golf greens and vineyards.
But while golf greens benefit from an exemption that allows watering while much of the rest of the nation suffers a hosepipe ban, the verdant vineyards are evidence that Britain’s wine producers are among the few farmers and growers enjoying the current weeks of unceasing sunshine.
While arable farmers and horticulturalists are struggling with drought and plunging yields, viticulturists from Kent to Yorkshire are cautiously optimistic for what is set to be the second bumper harvest in a row after 2025 produced the UK’s biggest-ever grape crop.
Anderson, a South African-born wine expert who is managing director of the Leonardslee Wine Estate, explained that vines, which on this estate and most others go unwatered, are staying green while other crops up and down the land are turning a parched yellow.
“We’ve got no irrigation in our vineyards – it’s not even something that would be considered. The vines have a fantastic root system and go down up to two metres to look for water. Ours are currently showing no drought stress – all the work goes into trying to create that green canopy so the plant can produce the grapes.
