British wines are winning international awards, especially for sparkling white wines, and the UK wine industry is growing in quality and volume. Much of that success is because of an improving climate for growing white grapes in this country. Yet only about 5 per cent of UK-produced wines are made from red grapes, which need a longer growing season than the white grapes grown here. They are more susceptible, too, to mildew and grey mould in wet weather at the end of the growing season, especially bad with all the rains this autumn. The British climate also makes it difficult to get a good balance of sugar and acidity, and phenolic content in the red grape, qualities needed for a good red wine.

Source: The Times October 09, 2019 22:52 UTC