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A visit to Camel Valley vineyards in Cornwall - 1st June 2009
 Half term saw me in Cornwall attempting to body board on Booby's Bay (not a pretty sight - but you have to keep an eye on the children!). The best thing, apart from the glorious weather, was that it meant I could pay a visit to Bob and Sam Lindo at Camel Valley vineyards. You can cycle through the vineyard on the Camel Trail from Padstow to Bodmin but we drove there for a 5pm "Grand Tour" and tasting (costs £7.50 and is good value with half a dozen wines to taste).
I persuaded some of our friends to come too - one of whom was very sniffy about English wines and determined not to like them (although he did change his mind the next day when he realised that the sparkling rosé sells for £35 in Rick Stein's shop in Padstow!).
 English wines are not cheap. This is mainly because the yields are so much lower than across the Channel. UK vineyards average a paltry 19 hectolitres per hectare (due to cool weather and disease) while vineyards in Champagne produce over 100 hl/ha for example. This makes the economics very different. It means that the still whites, reds and rosés, often on sale for around the £10 mark, seem expensive for what they are as they taste so light and delicate - like a light Sancerre or a Beaujolais. The alcohol is generally around 11-12% alcohol which feels light compared to what we're used to now. So it depends on your priorities. If you are looking for the best value alcohol-hit then don't buy English wine. If you don't mind paying extra for something produced locally which is unusual, has a fruity lightness and sums up the English summer, then try some English wine. (Pictured is Camel Valley's Atlantic Dry - perfect with seafood £11.95.)
 For sparkling the decision is much easier as the English examples are very nearly as good as the French (and in some cases better) so you don't feel you are overpaying. The good thing about the Champagne process is that you need high acid base wine (which is what we get with our cool climate!) to which you add sugar and yeast to create the second fermentation. This results in an extra percentage or so of alcohol which adds weight to the wine. You can also balance the acidity with a touch of sugar at dosage just before bottling. As the quality in the UK is so good the producers are justified in charging similar prices to Champagne and so it makes better economic sense for them too. (Pictured is Camel Valley's Brut Rosé £25 (not £35 at Rick Stein's - sorry Rick I love your programmes but this is taking advantage) and there is also Camel Valley's white sparkling Brut at £19.95)
The English wine industry is just taking off. What we need now is scale - larger vineyards and a cooperative system in the different regions which will bring economies of scale, plus research into producing higher yields of sound quality grapes. If we get the summer we have been promised 2009 will be a great vintage for English wine!
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