Looking out over Graham Martin’s vines marching down a hillside near Chelmsford in the June sunshine, it’s hard to see the climate emergency. Martin’s Lane Vineyard grows high-quality pinot noir and chardonnay grapes here in the warm, dry, frost-free micro-climate of Essex’s Crouch Valley. But in fact, this is the front line of climate change – and Martin, like other English growers, is a beneficiary.
Average growing-season temperatures in southern England have risen two degrees since the 1970s: while 2024’s very wet spring and summer were challenging, over the past 20 years the warming climate has indisputably boosted the English wine industry. ‘We only started Hundred Hills because of climate change,’ admits Stephen Duckett, owner and winemaker at the Oxfordshire vineyard.
Indeed, to read some press reports, you might think southern England is about to become the Loire. The reality is more complicated: England’s cool, damp climate remains a formidable challenge.
The climate isn’t quite as grim as when the industry’s pioneers first planted grapes half a century ago. Then, growers favoured German hybrids bred to ripen early, such as müller-thurgau, reichensteiner and bacchus. These grapes rarely produced interesting wines.
What changed was both the climate and English winemakers’ ambition. They realised they could now ripen Champagne varieties – especially chardonnay and pinot noir – and exploit the high acidity of grapes grown in this cool climate to make quality sparkling wine.
Simon Roberts, winemaker at Ridgeview, in Sussex, has been in the business longer than most. ‘When we planted back in 1995, you definitely had a clear change between the seasons: winter started in late November, whereas now it starts January, in terms of frost,’ he says. ‘True winter has really diminished.’
Most growers agree that the biggest impact is the way climate change has extended the growing season. At the end of the season, an extra couple of weeks of ripening can make a crucial difference. Yet an earlier start means that late frosts hit when the vines’ buds are more advanced than they would once have been.
When Ruth Simpson and her husband bought Simpson’s Wine Estate’s first site in 2012, near Canterbury, Kent, ten years of weather data showed no frost incidents in the normal growing season. But, says Simpson: ‘We quickly realised we couldn’t be smug about frost because the growing season has shifted forward into middle of March, and there’s usually a frost in mid-April.’ However, she says the risk is very site specific: in their vineyards, one lower zone is vulnerable, yet their other site was untouched by frost in 2024.
‘You need to be incredibly precise about site selection – from temperature to soils to drainage to air flow,’ agrees Duckett, whose main vineyard is in a dry chalk valley which benefits from warmer air flowing down from the Chiltern ridge. He warns, however: ‘If you’re somewhere vulnerable to frost, global warming isn’t going to bail you out.’
That means worrying nights, especially during times of warm, clear, early-spring weather where the temperature plummets after dark, as in 2020. Growers can use frost fans to blow warmer air through a vineyard: these cost around £30,000 apiece. Alternatively, large candles can create a convection current – perhaps a cheaper option, at about £7 each, except that even a fairly small vineyard can use hundreds each winter. Ridgeview also use solar-powered infra-red filament wires, installed along the pruning wires, raising the temperature around the buds. They work well but are expensive to install.
But climate change isn’t just about the growing season and frost. ‘We are definitely seeing wetter summers with much bigger volumes of rain,’ says Roberts. Many areas are suffering heavier rain in more concentrated bursts, leading to some soils not draining. Simpson says that rainfall in the past two years has been average but milder temperatures create more humidity, increasing the risk of disease. Many English vineyards were hit by mildew last year [2024]. ‘These wet summers make it very challenging,’ says Roberts. ‘It’s difficult spraying [fungicides] every two weeks when the ground is so wet.’
Most of all, English weather remains wildly inconsistent. ‘No two years are the same,’ says Jacob Leadley, owner and winemaker at Black Chalk in Hampshire. A low-lying site means that Black Chalk sees damaging frosts in three out of five years; in 2020, the last frost was on 15th May. ‘Whether that’s climate change or just being at the northern edge of what’s possible in viticulture is hard to say,’ he says.
Leadley adds ruefully: ‘I spend more time looking at weather stations and forecasts than most people in the world.’ Even in a warming climate, that will remain true for England’s winemakers.
English wines
All English wines
The Grange, Hampshire Classic Brut NV
The Society's English Lager 3.8% 330ml
LA Brewery Sparkling English Blush Kombucha 75cl
Magnum of Nyetimber Classic Cuvée Brut 2010
The Society's Alcohol Free Lager 0.5% 440ml
Ridgeview Bloomsbury NV Sussex
Pinot Noir, Danbury Ridge, Essex 2022
Langham Corallian Classic Cuvée, Dorset NV
'Clean' Alcohol Free Cider, Chance, Worcestershire
