Top 100 wines of United Kingdom - Page 10

Discovering the wine region of United Kingdom

The UK may not be the best known wine region in the world, but since the 1970s dedicated winemakers and winemakers have been producing high quality wines in England and Wales and winning international competitions. Wine has been produced in the UK since the Imperial Roman occupation in the 1st century, while the UK consumer market has been a major factor in many historic global wine trends, such as the growth of Bordeaux, Sherry and Port. The latitude of the wine regions and the cooler temperatures favour cool Climate, early maturing varieties. Growing conditions are moderated by the Warming effects of the Gulf Stream current that carries warm waters eastward across the Atlantic Ocean.

The majority of wines produced are white, with smaller quantities of rosé and red. Grape varieties that are gaining in popularity include Triomphe d'Alsace, Dornfelder, Madeleine Angevine, Seyval Blanc, Schonburger and Müller-Thurgau. The UK has built up a reputation for traditional Sparkling wines, often made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The most successful wine regions in the UK are Cornwall, Kent and Sussex in the South of England.

In addition to the designated English and Welsh wines, products bearing the term "British Wine" are also widely available, but very different. English and Welsh wines are legislated wine regions that describe where the grapes are grown and vinified. British wines are generally valuable products made from grape or fruit Concentrate which may be sourced from outside the UK and do not meet the EU legal definition of 'wine'. Although whisky ('whiskey' in Ireland and the United States) may have come to Scotland from Ireland, Scotland's status as the world's leading producer of single malt whisky is undisputed.