COLD CLIMATE VINE CONFERENCE
Riga. November 2006.
Vines in the UK. B.R.Edwards.
Holder of the United Kingdom National Vine Collection.
Website http://vinenursery.netfirms.com E Mail vinenursery@hotmail.com
The National Vine Collection, Journey’s End, King St, Ewyas Harold, Herefordshire, HR2OEE. Tel. 01981240256
Vines grow well, and early varieties will ripen, in much of the U.K. We have a cool maritime climate, and only in highland areas and in the far north does the climate become at all extreme. We do not have a problem with winter cold, and have a population of nearly 60million, most of whom drink wine. The industry is well established, and International prizes in wine competitions not uncommon. So what, you may say, is the problem.
Our climate is marginal for grape growing , largely due to the limited amount of summer heat. Crops are often too small, our government unhelpful , and our large market, with perhaps the world’s best selection of wines, is ferociously competitive and supermarket dominated. Much of it is very inexpensive. The fact that we are in the EU means we are under constant legislative pressure, much of it generated by the declining wine industries of southern Europe, and often seeming to be aimed deliberately against us.
None of this prevents successful small scale and amateur vineyards, of which we have many. The problem for a commercial grower is to make a profit year in, year out. My wife and I set up and ran a small commercial vineyard for 15 years, and made a decent living selling at retail prices, entirely from the vineyard shop and shows. It did mean being open for sales every weekend, and offering tours, tastings, and buffet suppers. When we decided to sell there was no premium for the business, though ten years later it is still operating and apparently profitable. However, we combined wine sales with making and selling fruit wines, producing and selling plants, make our own wine and did all the work ourselves. We employed nobody.
Slightly larger vineyards found themselves pushed into selling wholesale – at which point, your margins plunge. If are selling to a supermarket you face constant downward pressure on the price you are paid. In addition, many producers opted to have their wine make for them , a major up-front cost. Most of the contract winemakers are good, but you find yourself selling a product that is hardly individually yours. Accurate tasters can often tell which vineyard made the wine. I have my doubts about the profitability of many of the vineyards in the UK. , and suspect many confuse turnover and accounting tricks with profit. Too many, in the thirty odd years I have been involved, start off with a burst of enthusiasm and redundancy money, and ten years later are gone. I do not feel that vineyards are truly viable until they fetch a good price on the open market when sold. There are far too few second generation vineyard owners.
Several of the biggest vineyards have grown to a size that provides real economies of scale, and these I think are profitable. Most make wine for other smaller vineyards, and one or two buy in grapes. Most make sparking wine , often in the champagne style, usually excellent. International top awards are won on a regular basis, and it is true that French Champagne growers are buying and planting in the UK. An active U.K. Vineyards Association provides general guidance and advice. Their spray programme and pesticides guide is particularly valuable, and if followed will keep vines healthy in British conditions.
Vines have been grown in Britain since Roman times, and some sites are known. Some Roman varieties eg. Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chasselas, are still grown today. They were however operating in a climate a little warmer than ours today – though a little global warming, however caused, will quickly turn our vineyards from marginal to mainstream, and some think this has already happened. After the Romans, vines continued on a small scale, often, though not entirely planted for and by the church. After our Reformation, private plantings were made, right up to the Second World War. It was clear that enthusiasts were able to grow grapes and make wine, some of it good, but it is an open question as to whether they were profitable. It seems likely that the economics were marginal.
After WW2 a wealthy private researcher named Ray Barrington-Brock made it his business to import and trial as many early likely sorts of vine as he could obtain. He published four books on his research, and can fairly be regarded as the father of the English wine renaissance. Commercial plantings followed, and there are currently about 1000 hectares in commercial production. Most early planting were on close double guyot, but this proved very labour intensive, and current plantings are either on a wider double guyot, Geneva double curtain, Scott-Henry with a few on open lyre. As you know, grapes are versatile, and in the UK all these systems can work if properly managed.
Many early vineyards were planted by wealthy individuals on frankly unsuitable sites, often former pony paddocks when their children outgrew ponies. Some made their own wine, sometimes well, sometimes very badly. From the start there were some prize winning wines , but the standard was extremely uneven, and far too many poor quality wines were offered for sale. Many picked too early , particularly the variety Seyval Blanc, which was often overcropped, and gained a reputation for thin, acid wine as a result. Much of modern winemaking in Britain is done by the big vineyards , and is generally of good quality. Those smaller makers who produce their own are usually good. Many have had training- ( a good course at Plumpton College in Sussex is popular)
Most vineyards today try to take advantage of a suitable site, seeking a southerly aspect, good shelter, and a modest altitude. Some – examples include the sparkling wine producers Ridgeview and Nyetimber, come from sites specially chosen after exhaustive research. Very few, however, of the extreme solutions to low heat levels used in true cold climate areas have been adopted in the UK. This in spite of the enthusiasm for Pinot Noir and even Chardonnay for ‘real’ sparkling wines in the champagne style. Many are covering themselves, by planting early clones of Pinot Noir. The German Fruhburgunder clone is popular, and seems to do better here than in Germany. One or two vineyards use some terracing , but in general vineyard owners find a sufficient number of vines that will ripen in the UK without special assistance. It is amateurs, often in theoretically wildly unsuitable sites, who are working hardest at heat trap experiments. That excellent book Northern Winework by Tom Plocher and Bob Parke has made information on the subject available in English. (I should declare an interest here, as I am currently selling the book in Britain on their behalf.)
My wife and I own and run the National Vine Collection of grape vine varieties in Britain. National Collection status is awarded, listed , and very lightly regulated by our Royal Horticultural Society. The collection is self assembled , wholly voluntary and operates without government help or subsidy. There are over 400 sorts, including a large seedless collection. I am constantly trying to add to it, and will be happy to exchange or buy. I am not independently wealthy, and cover costs by selling own rooted vines propagated from my collection. This does give me an insight into what varieties succeed, and which ones are likely to perform under extreme conditions. One thing that is obvious, is that results from other climates are only loosely applicable to English conditions. I have to regard ripening times from abroad as indicative only.
I grow on a high double guyot system , on a very warm but rather high south facing slope in Herefordshire. Details of the vines and our operation can be found at http://vinenursery.netfirms.com Very many of the vines, including some of the most promising, are recent acquisitions, and will fruit for the first time in 2007/8. I would like to thank all those who have helped me put the collection together. I will have more to report and more varieties trialled each year. I have also planted a ‘no-spray’ vineyard of varieties likely to show some disease resistance . Again, more news in a couple of years. I am also beginning a small scale breeding programme , looking for suitable varieties for cooler parts of Britain, and if possible suitable for no spray culture. I would be happy to trial plants for other breeders.
SOME POSSIBLE COOL TEMPERATE VINE VARIETIES.
Please bear in mind that I have no way to test serious cold hardiness. Note also that ripening times and sequences do not correspond exactly in our climate to known patterns in areas with colder winters and hotter summers. Even with varieties from Germany , I have sometimes found significant differences in ripening times and performance.
WHITE WINE POSSIBILITIES. Only a sample, there are many others.
Birstaller Muscat. Czech. Sevyal Blanc x Bacchus .Early, big bunch and berry, good crop and sugars. Supposed to be a table grape, but I think has wine potential. Both parents are wine grapes.
L’ Arcadie Blanche. Canadian hybrid .Big cropper, high sugars, promising flavour for wine. Known suitability for cold winter areas.
Madeleine Angevine. Vinifera. English. Not the same as the French vine of the same name, almost certainly originally a German cross. Early, decent sugars, good crops, lovely wine . Needs spraying.
Madeleine Sylvaner. Extremely early, good on cool wet sites in the UK. Fine flowery wine. Needs spraying.
Both these are well worth trying where winter temperatures are not too low.
Perdin. New French hybrid. Early, supposed dessert. Decent crops, good sugars ,near seedless. Good eating, Being used for wine by amateurs in cool parts of France..
Seyval Blanc. Widely known. Technically late, but very adaptable ,can usually be grown without sprays. Has made top quality sparkling wine, and prizewinning dry recently from Britain’s most northerly commercial vineyard. Do not overcrop.
Solaris.New German sort. Merzling x Saperavi Servanyi. Very early, exceptional sugar levels, high disease resistance, some excellent wine. Possibility of serious cold resistance . for which it would be worthwhile trialling.
Zalagyongye. Hungarian. Eger 2 x Csabyongye. Early, good wine. Supposed dessert, but I think too small.
RED WINE POSSIBILITIES.
Frontenac. University of Minnesota cross, Riparia 89 x Landot 5411. A few bunches this year, very high sugars, and acidity did, as promised, drop very sharply and suddenly in time. Cold hardy.
Gagarin Blue. Russian hybrid, true name unknown. Smuggled out of Russia during cold war period. Mid early, big crop, big loose grapes. Dessert or wine. Reported disease resistant. Highly likely to be hardy.
Marshall Joffre. French hybrid, ultra early. I suspect several varieties circulate under this name. A resistant Kuhlman hybrid, loose bunches, high sugar and colour, very good wine. May be hardy.
Rondo. German. Saperavi Servanyi x St Laurent. Early, big crop, good sugars, good wine. Note despite claims, has no disease resistance.
Triomphe D’Alsace. Kuhlman hybrid, performs well in the UK. Early, high sugars, decent wine.
I suspect that I will find some of the truly cold hardy varieties, both Swenson and others, will perform very well in our climate. First indications are most promising.
© Brian Edwards