No Eurotunnel slots? No problem. In fact, why would you even want to traipse across the pond to Provence or Champagne when there’s equally wonderful, if not even higher quality, wine being produced on the doorstep in its barrel-load? Just jump on the train from London and you can be at one of dozens of Britain’s top vineyards in under two hours and back by dinner-time. No need to bicker over the driving or fuss around with departure lounge queues.
In case you missed all the Instagrams of your pals boozy Sussex day trips, vineyards across the south of England are having a moment. UK winegrowing has expanded by nearly 400 per cent since 2004, British wine estates have more than doubled in size in the last eight years and this year is set to produce the best harvest yet, if predictions for further heatwaves are anything to go by. Winemakers at Chapel Down in Kent say grapes are already 10 days ahead of the average season, meaning riper wines, and insiders are already calling the south of England the future Napa Valley of the UK thanks to its chalky soil and increasingly warm, dry climate conditions.
