Producers are struggling to meet soaring demand for English wines after a host of rave reviews and international wine awards.
Although production hit a record high last year at just over four million bottles [English Wine Producers], this was not enough to meet burgeoning demand, said winemaker Sam Lindo at Cornish producer Camel Valley.
The UK was capable of swallowing all 100,000 bottles it produced a year and it also had to contend with growing overseas demand, with 7,000 bottles currently exported, he said.
"If we wanted to send over a full container to New York or Singapore there are people who want that volume but we don't have it to spare," he said. "No one has got enough spare to really capitalise on this demand."
Denbies Wine Estate's Chalk Ridge Rose 2010 was the only still rosé to win a gold medal at the International Wine Challenge this year. The company plans to export its sparkling wines to Japan, China and Russia within the next 12 months but domestic demand for the vineyard's wines is already outweighing supply.
The Secret Cellar Wine Shop in Tunbridge Wells had its allocation of Denbies' rosé cut following the IWC award, leaving it with "only a handful of cases available for sale".
Denbies said this had been a "unique situation" The Secret Cellar Wine Shop was the only local merchant to get the wine, with the rest sold in-house and that it would continue to commit an annual allocation to the company.
"We've never been in the position where supply has outweighed demand so much and it does mean we have to catch up," said MD Chris White, adding that the vineyard planned to expand from 265 acres to 300 in the next five years and had started buying in grapes from other selected English vineyards.
Tesco, which sells Tesco Finest Denbies English White and Three Choirs White, said that the Royal Wedding had led to a sales uplift and that there was potential to sell the wines abroad but that this would depend on availability.
Although production hit a record high last year at just over four million bottles [English Wine Producers], this was not enough to meet burgeoning demand, said winemaker Sam Lindo at Cornish producer Camel Valley.
The UK was capable of swallowing all 100,000 bottles it produced a year and it also had to contend with growing overseas demand, with 7,000 bottles currently exported, he said.
"If we wanted to send over a full container to New York or Singapore there are people who want that volume but we don't have it to spare," he said. "No one has got enough spare to really capitalise on this demand."
Denbies Wine Estate's Chalk Ridge Rose 2010 was the only still rosé to win a gold medal at the International Wine Challenge this year. The company plans to export its sparkling wines to Japan, China and Russia within the next 12 months but domestic demand for the vineyard's wines is already outweighing supply.
The Secret Cellar Wine Shop in Tunbridge Wells had its allocation of Denbies' rosé cut following the IWC award, leaving it with "only a handful of cases available for sale".
Denbies said this had been a "unique situation" The Secret Cellar Wine Shop was the only local merchant to get the wine, with the rest sold in-house and that it would continue to commit an annual allocation to the company.
"We've never been in the position where supply has outweighed demand so much and it does mean we have to catch up," said MD Chris White, adding that the vineyard planned to expand from 265 acres to 300 in the next five years and had started buying in grapes from other selected English vineyards.
Tesco, which sells Tesco Finest Denbies English White and Three Choirs White, said that the Royal Wedding had led to a sales uplift and that there was potential to sell the wines abroad but that this would depend on availability.
No comments yet