Shropshire Star

Poll: Have you ever bought a bottle of English wine ahead of another country's?

British vineyards could enjoy a better grape harvest than French rivals this year thanks to our corking weather – and their crops being wiped out by hailstorms.

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UK growers are enjoying constant sunshine and "perfect" conditions while some of France's most famed regions have been pummelled by 60mph winds and hail the size of golf balls.

The battering has destroyed up to 80 per cent of some Pinot noir and Chardonnay crops in Burgundy and led the prestigious Pommard Winemakers' Association to declare the season "a catastrophe".

But France's misery could be good news for Britain's booming wine industry.

UK vineyards which include some thriving vineyards in Shropshire, Herefordshire and Staffordshire

They are due to export a record number of bottles this year thanks to the balmy start to the summer – and say they are seeing bigger taste for home-grown wine from the British market as well.

Have you ever bought a bottle of English wine ahead of another country's? Vote in our poll and have your say in the comment box below.

Vineyard owner Simon Day said English wine used to be considered a joke by continental rivals but is now good enough to seize a share of the global market.

Mr Day, who runs 16 Ridges Vineyard in Ledbury, Herefordshire, said: "English wine used to be a bit of a joke.

"The French, Italian and Spaniards – the stereotypical wine-growing countries – would say, 'the English can't make wine'.

"The French are intensely proud of what they produce themselves.

"Of course 99.99 per cent of what is drunk in Burgundy is made in Burgundy.

"But when they try our wine out now they're pleasantly surprised.

"Some of the pictures I've seen of the devastation in Burgundy and France have been absolutely horrific.

"Storms can be quite localised and some vines have been completely stripped bare.

"It's been perfect weather here – sunny, warm and light, breezy winds.

"It's not all done and dusted i n this country yet though, but everything certainly looks very promising."

Mr Day, who hopes to produce 60,000 bottles from this summer's crop, added: "The demand for English wine has been outstripping supply for the last 10 years.

"You never see English wine on the shelves but that's because it's already sold.

"It's sold at the vineyard's gates, or in local pubs and restaurants, so that's why you don't see it."

Booming Halfpenny Green vineyard in Bobbington, near Bridgnorth, is expecting to fill up to 70,000 bottles this year because of the fine weather, and has secured contracts to supply stores such as Waitrose, as well as taking contracts from fellow wine producers.

And Shropshire boasts the award-winning Wroxeter Roman Vineyard, which has established itself as one of Britain's best wine producers after setting itself up in the 1990s and has also expanded its range to produce cider.

Perfect time to pick your own:

You can tell summer has arrived when English fruits are in the fields ripe for the picking.

The fields of Grange Farm, at Hilton, near Bridgnorth, have seen plenty of interest from visitors who have been collecting their own fruit.

Farm spokesman Ian Wills said that, despite rain earlier in the year, 2014 had been a great year for growing the strawberries.

And across the county and the wider area demand for more pick-your-own fruit farms seems to be picking up pace.

Mr Wills said: "After a very wet spring it has been good growing conditions for the strawberries.

"Now we need plenty of sunshine to get customers out for the pick-your-own season. The strawberry-picking season is coming to a close but now have a good crop of gooseberries ready.

"Following that there will be raspberries, and blackcurrants and redcurrants, later in July."

Brian Humphreys, owner of Shawbury Fruit Farm, said: "We're doing very well at the moment. It's all about the weather, if you've got good weather on your side it stays nice and busy, but when the weather goes it's not busy at all.

"We've got superb crops this year because of the mild winter and wet spring.

"Usually those conditions do bring fungal disease with them but we've only had a little and managed to stay on top of that to keep it at bay.

"I think it should stay busy throughout the summer, as long as we keep having the good weather."

Ally Bradshaw, who runs Bradshaw's Farm Shop and Garden Centre, in Perton, said they were hoping to expand the 'pick your own fruit' side of the business after being inundated with requests.

He said: "We've only just really started it up again because we had quite a lot of disease within the raspberries.

"But now we're back selling blackcurrants, strawberries, gooseberries and raspberries again. We will look to grow more in the future.

"We tend to pick them ourselves and then sell them but people can come in and pick their own if they ask.

"It's certainly the way to go because we've so many requests.

"We'll be certainly growing that side of the business more in the future.

"The good weather has also helped because if it rains the fruit just goes all soft and mushy, so it does depend on that too."

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