It is a common perception that Julius Caesar was ultimately responsible for bringing grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) culture to these islands, soon after his successful invasion of 54BC, and the final conquest nine years later.

A SHORT HISTORY OF WINE IN ENGLAND

 

The period of colder weather lasted for around three hundred years, and, during that time, there were a few new vineyards planted in England.

One of the first, and most notable, was at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, home of the Earls of Salisbury. It was the work of the great Suffolk-born naturalist, collector, and gardener John Tradescant the Elder (c.1570-1638), who was head-gardener there for a while.
A little later, in 1666, John Rose, gardener to Charles II at his Royal Garden at St. James’s, wrote the first (and probably only) pre-20th century treatise on the cultivation of vines in Britain. Wonderfully titled The English Vineyard Vindicated.
The book discusses the questions of site selection, vine variety, pruning and training, and care of vines up to the harvest, and much of the work is as relevant today as it was back then
Another of the famous early vineyards was set up by the Hon. Charles Hamilton at Painshill Place, Cobham, Surrey in 1740 (wine is still produced at this site, although not from locally-grown vines)..

At about the same time in 1768, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown planted what is probably the most famous, and long-lived vine in the world. Brown was head gardener at Hampton Court Palace, and planted the Black Hamburg’ vine against a south-facing wall in a greenhouse. The plant still thrives, and produces around 600 lbs. of grapes every year, which are duly sold to visitors.

There is evidence that there were a number of unsuccessful attempts to set up commercial British wineries during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and for the next landmark in our story we have to wait until the mid-Victorian era. The Castell Coch vineyard was planted in the spring of 1875, This site was one of only three commercial vineyards in Britain in the period from the end of the Middle Ages until the first half of the 20th century. Two suitable varieties of grape were used for planting: Gamay Noir and Le Miel Blanc, though the former proved to be most fruitful.

The wines were sweet and, initially, always white, but new equipment, and winemaking methods introduced in 1893 enabled a red wine to be made as well but the venture at Castell Coch effectively ended with the Great War.

There was little viticultural activity in Britain between the wars, but just afterwards the seeds of the modern industry were sown by two important figures in English winemaking. Firstly, in 1946, Ray Barrington-Brock and Edward Hymas in 1949.

Since that time numerous vineyards have emerged, not all of them vinifying on site (grapes are sent away, and wine comes back bottled). 1966 saw the foundation of the English Vineyards Association (now the United Kingdom Vineyards Assn.), and, a year later there were 25 members.
As of mid-2007, there were around 350 vineyards in England, and 17 in Wales, the largest being Denbies, situated near Dorking in Surrey, with some 265 acres of vines.

From humble beginnings British wine is now highly regarded around the world and East Anglia is at the forefront of this change. So if you are looking for a new wine for your dinner table look no further than your own region. You will not be disappointed.

Whilst it is generally accepted that the Romans did bring vines over with them, it is not totally clear, if they found any plants over here already. Whether or not vines were grown in Britain before the Roman occupation is open to much speculation, since there are no unequivocal records either way, but distinctive wine amphorae, dating to pre-Roman conquest, have been unearthed from several sites in southern England.

In addition, some scholars consider that wine, rather than beer, was probably drunk by the Belgae, one of the ancient tribes of pre-Roman Britain.

Be that as it may, the British climate at that time was not very conducive to the growing of vines, a fact forcefully made during the first century AD by the great Roman historian, Tacitus, who described our climate as “objectionable”, and “not at all suitable for growing grapevines”. Immediately post-invasion, wine would have been imported from grapes grown in warmer climes, but the difficulties associated with transporting perishable commodities to the far-flung corners of the Roman Empire would have expedited the need to grow vines over here.

When the Romans left Britain, some winemaking continued in many areas, although vineyards tended to become somewhat dilapidated. That they persisted at all is evidenced by the Venerable Bede, who mentions vineyards in his History of the British People, which he completed around AD731.

A few hundred years later, in 1085, the Domesday Book recorded a total of 46 vineyards in England, stretching from East Anglia to what is now Somerset. During the Middle Ages, most vineyards were associated with monasteries, which is unsurprising since wine plays an important role in Catholic ceremony.

By the late 15th century there were around 140 large vineyards in England, many owned by the Church, but several by the Crown, and by wealthy families – the latter being evidence that drinking wine was by now a social phenomenon in the British Isles. A census at the time of Henry VIII documents that of these 140-odd concerns, 52 were Church-owned; 11 were the property of the Crown, and 67 were owned by the nobility.

After this, wine production started to decline quite dramatically, something that was partly due to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which commenced in 1536. Some believe that the ‘Little Ice Age’, a period of intense cold weather experienced in western Europe at the end if the 16th century, was also a contributory factor, as were politics, and keen competition from abroad.