England 2026: a vintage of the ages

England 2026: a vintage of the ages Following yesterday’s 2026 rankings from The Real Review’s ‘Top Wineries of Great Britain’ tasting, in which all of the top 30 wines hailed from England, Anthony Rose analyses the current state of UK wine. Let’s start with the numbers, because they are remarkable. The Food Standards Agency confirmed in March 2026 that UK wine production in 2025 reached 124,377 hectolitres. This is the equivalent of more than 16.5 million bottles, an increase of 55% on 2024. White wine production alone surged by more than 131%. The WineGB Harvest Report, authored by Stephen Skelton MW, called 2025 “a mast year” and for good reason. Growing degree days reached 1,051 against a five-year average of 1,008; average potential alcohol rose from 9.47% to 10.48%; tartaric acid levels edged down from a 10-year average of 10.47 grams per litre to 10.22. Taken together, these indicators point not just to quantity but to a qualitative step-change. Exceptional conditions The conditions behind this were exceptional: an early, dry spring that brought forward budburst; then a June and July in southern England of sustained, record-breaking heat, with four separate official heatwaves. Regarding grape varieties, Bacchus yielded 9.5 tonnes per hectare against a five-year average of 6.75; Solaris came in at 7.20 tonnes per hectare against 4.20; and Pinot Noir at 5.90, fractionally ahead of its historical norm. The result was a good-sized harvest though with quality indicators that could surpass even that banner 2023 crop. The number of vineyards registered with the FSA grew to 1,158, a 4.3% increase on the previous year, with 4,357 ha of active vines now in production. More than 10,000 people are now employed across the sector, and the industry is valued at approximately £14 billion. These are not hobbyist statistics. This is a serious agricultural and economic force. The continuing rise of English still wine The Real Review’s Top Wineries of Great Britain 2026 rankings, on which this article is based, reflect the same momentum, but with a subplot of the stealthy but increasingly undeniable rise of English still wines. You can read about the rankings in a separate piece on the runners and riders in 2026 but the most significant underlying trend is the still wine story. The most recently available bottle production figures from WineGB showed that, in 2024, still wine made up 31% (around 3.3 million bottles) of the total (10.7 million), with sparkling accounting for the remaining 69%. Essex: the new still wine heartland Essex—in third place for total hectares planted—is no longer a surprise but its emergence as the heartland of English still wine is accelerating. The Crouch Valley, in particular, is drawing serious attention. Its proximity to the River Crouch offers protection from frost and cold winds; its clay soils retain moisture and nutrients; and its microclimate is among the sunniest and warmest in the UK. These conditions increasingly resemble where Burgundy was climatically 20 years ago. One of the most striking illustrations of Essex’s new prestige is the joint venture announced between Danbury Ridge Wine Estate and Domaine Duroché, one of Burgundy’s most prestigious estates. Danbury Ridge did not enter The Real Review’s blind tasting with its Pinot Noir or Chardonnay this year, nor did the Jackson Family Wines brand, Marbury, whose inaugural 2024 Pinot Noir is, arguably, England’s finest Pinot Noir to date. However, I was able to attend the Crouch Valley tasting that took place on 15 June, with 18 exhibitors. In addition to Danbury Ridge and Marbury, there were impressive showings from, among others, Blackbook Winery, a London urban winery that sources its fruit from the Crouch Valley, Flint Vineyard and Gutters & Stars, based in Cambridge. PiWis: the quiet revolution in the vineyard One of the big debates now running through the UK wine world, and indeed across the wine world at large, is the role of fungus-resistant grape varieties, known in the trade as PiWis (from the German Pilzwiderständsfähig). Partner Content These are not, technically, hybrids: rather, they are vines genetically engineered to incorporate non-vinifera fungal resistance into an otherwise European vine. The distinction matters legally; in the EU they remain classified as vinifera. But their practical implications, with fewer treatments required, are potentially transformative, especially for a country as prone to wet summers as England (albeit written during our third heatwave). In the UK, Solaris is becoming a more familiar presence and is among the top six most planted varieties. At this year’s The Real Review tasting, Solaris appeared among the still whites and Divico among the reds. The results were too limited to draw firm conclusions, and the jury remains out on quality. The sector’s premium positioning depends in part on its association with classic vinifera varieties so the challenge for PiWis in England is as much cultural as it is agronomic. But given that the UK wine industry is taking its sustainability obligations seriously, PiWis are part of an increasingly coherent sustainability narrative. Complementing this trend is a growing interest in regenerative viticulture. At Gusbourne in Kent, vineyard manager John Pollard is trialling cover crops, minimal tractor passes to preserve soil structure and biological sprays to elicit natural pest resistance from the vines. Wine tourism Wine tourism, meanwhile, continues its rapid development as a parallel industry. A new digital platform, the UK Vineyard Guide, launched in May 2026, offers a discovery tool for those wishing to explore England and Wales’ wine regions and more than 1,100 vineyards, including an interactive map, searchable vineyard listings and editorial content. The WineGB Industry Report for 2025 showed that English and Welsh wineries hosted 1.5 million visits in 2024. It anticipates that wine tourism and cellar door sales are expected to generate a 21% rise in full-time equivalent roles by 2028, a figure that speaks not just to an industry growing in volume, but one expanding in ambition and reach. The elephant in the room The record 2023 harvest has produced volumes of wine that have not yet cleared through the market. Now add a 2025 vintage that has delivered more than 16.5 million bottles, and the arithmetic becomes testing. The 2025 WineGB Industry Report data showed that sales were still dominated by a small number of large producers, with just 24 accounting for 88% of sales. Deep discounting by larger players and supermarkets remains a pressure point. The on-trade, which accounts for 26% of sales, continues to recover slowly from a post-Budget period that saw the hospitality sector lose 69,000 jobs. Ridgeview, one of England’s largest and best-known producers, went into administration last September, a moment that sent a chill through the sector. It was acquired in February 2026 by an investor consortium led by The Quantum Beverage Company, but operations remain uninterrupted with co-founder and head winemaker Simon Roberts in post. The episode was a salutary reminder that scale is no guarantee of security in a market still finding its commercial footing. And yet…. the export story is encouraging. Volumes grew 35% in 2024, reaching 9% of total sales, and the quality narrative that drives those sales has never been stronger. The Olympian Battle of the Bubbles last year, in which Nyetimber 1086 2010 and Gusbourne 51 Degrees North 2016 beat five of Champagne’s top prestige cuvées before 16 experienced judges, made modest waves in the UK press, and none at all in France. That is, in its way, the measure of work still to be done on the brand-building front. English wine needs to sell itself globally with the same conviction it brings to the vineyard. A pivotal moment The state we’re in, in 2026, is complex and exciting. The 2025 vintage has delivered a harvest of quality and scale that has confounded even the most optimistic projections. The rankings confirm a category no longer defined solely by sparkling wine. Following the investments in bubbles by Taittinger and Pommery, the arrival of Jackson Family Wines and Domaine Duroché signals that the world’s most established regions are taking notice. The challenges are real: oversupply, fiscal pressure, a still-recovering hospitality sector, and the perennial need to build a brand big enough to carry growing volumes into international markets. But the foundations of quality, diversity, commitment to the land, and a growing community of talented growers and winemakers have never been stronger. Related news 10 award-winning English wines to drink during English Wine Week WineGB Awards reveal growing diversity of English and Welsh wine Champagne-baiting English wine brand invites public investment