Grape & Grain | The British sparkling wine on Bordeaux menus, and how Brexit could boost sales
The pound’s fall as a result of Britain’s vote to leave the EU has pushed up costs for the country’s wine industry but made its exports more competitive, a leading producer says. We pick three English sparklers to try
Sitting at a large wooden table under the shade of a sturdy oak, with views across gently sloped vineyards bathed in late afternoon sunshine, it’s hard to believe that the fledgling UK wine industry is facing stormy waters as a result of the Brexit vote three weeks ago.
These are ancient hills, south facing along the Kent escarpment of Appledore just 10km from England’s south coast. There have been battles fought here before – against Danish invaders in the 9th century, a French insurgency in 1380. Things had been smoother recently, at least until the morning of June 24, 2016.
Ashford International station, where Eurostar trains leave regularly for Paris and Brussels, is a 15-minute drive away, a pointed reminder that this part of England has always been linked, symbolically and nowadays physically, with the European mainland.
“We work regularly with suppliers in France and Germany,” owner Andrew Weeber says as we sip the 2010 Brut Reserve of his Gusbourne Estate along with an assortment of English goats’ cheese, cheddar and a beautiful crumbly blue. “It means that overnight the cost of many of our purchases, from tractors to young vine plants, rose 10 per cent due to currency fluctuations. But at the same time a falling pound makes us hugely competitive as exporters on the international market, and the whole thing should concentrate government attention on protecting the UK wine industry that has so far developed without the use of extensive EU grants, but also without much direct help from politicians.”