WHY IT’ S WORTH EVERY PENNY
ENGLISH WINE:
WHY IT’ S WORTH EVERY PENNY
In recent years, English wine has emerged from the shadows of global viticulture to gain a reputation for prestige, quality and uniqueness. But why does a bottle of English wine often come with a higher price tag?
Economic factors such as rising energy costs and wages certainly play their part, but the answer is more complex.
One key factor is the climate. The UK’ s climate is akin to that of Champagne, creating ideal conditions for producing high-quality sparkling wines. However, the cool temperatures reduce yield and therefore require meticulous vineyard management and labour-intensive practices, driving up production costs. Additionally, the relatively small scale of English wineries means they cannot benefit from economies of scale in the same way as larger producers in established wine regions.
English vineyards, along with many of their global contemporaries, also face increasing challenges from unpredictable weather patterns, so predicting the annual yield of their core ingredient can feel more akin to a dark art, with a glut one year followed by a dearth in the next.
The weather also impacts more directly on the cost of wine. Unlike spirits, which are distilled to a recipe guaranteed to produce the desired alcohol content, the alcoholic content of a bottle of wine can vary significantly depending on the weather that year. Alcohol duty paid by the wineries is based on alcohol content, so it’ s no wonder the industry refers to this as the‘ sunshine tax’.
Despite the higher prices, there are numerous reasons for investing in English
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