Wine Education
Grape Varieties of England
England's vineyards grow 99 different grape varieties. These are the ones that matter: what they produce, where they grow best, and what to expect in the glass.
10 min read
England's vineyards grow 99 different grape varieties. These are the ones that matter: what they produce, where they grow best, and what to expect in the glass.
10 min readTogether, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir now represent over 50% of all vines planted in England — a figure that would have seemed fantastically optimistic in 1990. The shift from the German hybrid varieties that dominated early English vineyards (Müller-Thurgau, Reichensteiner, Schönburger) to the classic Champagne trio represents perhaps the single most consequential decision in the history of modern English wine.
Chardonnay is the backbone of English Blanc de Blancs and contributes elegance, citrus precision, and structural acidity to blended sparkling wines. In the English climate, it rarely achieves the full tropical richness it can reach in Burgundy, but it delivers something arguably more useful for sparkling wine: a lean, mineral, citrus-driven base that ages with extraordinary grace.
Pinot Noir contributes body, red berry fruit, and complexity to blended sparkling wines and forms the basis of Blanc de Noirs. As a still wine — a category several brave English producers have committed to — it remains challenging in England's marginal climate, but in good years at the right sites, it produces wines of genuine Burgundian character. Gusbourne's estate Pinot Noir and Bolney's Lychgate red are the current benchmarks.
Pinot Meunier contributes the early-drinking charm and accessible roundness that helps balance blended sparkling wines. Less prestigious than its sibling varieties in Champagne, it nonetheless plays an important role in many English multi-vintage blends.
If England has a signature still white wine variety, it is Bacchus — a German crossing of Silvaner, Riesling and Müller-Thurgau that was developed in the 1930s and found its true calling in the English vineyards of the 1980s and 1990s. At its best — and Camel Valley's Darnibole is the current standard-bearer — Bacchus is a wine of real distinction: aromatic, precise, with elderflower, gooseberry, and a pithy herbaceous quality that speaks unmistakably of the English countryside. It is, in the best sense, irreducibly English.
Bacchus dominates in East Anglia — particularly Norfolk and Suffolk, where Winbirri Vineyard and Flint Vineyard are producing some of the finest expressions — but it grows well across most English wine regions. At lower yields and in the right hands, it produces wines that could not be confused with anything else.
Ortega, another German crossing, ripens reliably even in cooler years and produces wines with a floral, lychee-scented character that is immediately likeable. Denbies' Noble Harvest, the estate's prestigious dessert wine, is made from botrytis-affected Ortega and demonstrates what the variety can achieve in exceptional years.
Madeleine Angevine is one of England's most planted white varieties, producing wines of straightforward, fresh, slightly floral character that are enjoyable without being complex. It is the variety of a thousand English summer lunch tables, which is precisely what it should be.
Pinot Gris has attracted increasing attention as English winemakers experiment with still wine styles. Bolney's Pinot Gris is a reliable example; at the best sites, the variety produces wines with a gentle spice and pear-fruit character that suits the English palate.