UK vineyards set to flourish
Over the last decade the world of wine has been turned on its head. With a long held reputation for producing the best wine in the world French vintners seem to have been resting on their laurels whilst the rest of the world are sneaking up and will shortly catch them by surprise. New world countries such as Chile, Australia and a whole host of other countries now offer some very presentable wines and they don’t cost the earth. Even the British have got in on the act.
Although very much in the future, it is suggested by Met Office computer models that by around 2080 the climate in the UK would have changed sufficiently for the vineyards of Devon and Cornwall to give France a real challenge. Projections suggest that the temperature will rise by up to 4c in the south west of England, thereby creating the perfect conditions for grapes.
However, today a particular bright star on the horizon is Camel Valley located in Bodmin Cornwall, where a father and son team, have been in the wine business for twenty years producing over 100,000 bottles per year. Their talent for creating wonderful wine was recognised in 2005 when they won their first gold medal.
This year they became the only English vineyard to win a gold medal for their acclaimed 2007 Baccus White at the International Wine Challenge during the London International Wine Fair. According to Bob Lindo much of the credit can be attributed to the Bacchus grape’s remarkable suitability to the cooler conditions of southern England.
In order to win a prize each wine has to be chosen by four hundred experts who blind taste more than 900 bottles. France still holds the crown winning the most gold medals and also the high number of overall awards, but was closely followed by Australia who was second in both categories. Rather surprisingly Portugal came in third on gold medals but Italy was third with regards to the overall number of awards won.
