England

The English wine scene has never been more exciting and vibrant than it is right now and 'new' is the key word for all this. New technology and new ideas by new investors have created new wines and new producers.

Quality English wine - the kind that can be benchmarked against the rest of the world - mostly comes from counties on the south coast. Sparkling wine is the style that has really put England on the international wine map, especially in the home counties, where not only is the climate warmer, but is a region which shares the same geological bedrock as the region of Champagne, making it particularly suitable for Champagne grapes like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

For still wines, England had a very sensible spring clean of grape varieties a few years ago,  it stopped putting energy into Germanic hybrid grapes with difficult to pronounce names and instead concentrated on making the best of other varieties. One grape that has stood the test of time though, is Bacchus. Bacchus makes a very crisp, aromatic and fruity wine that's full of apples, elderflower and pear fruit.