Three English Wine Trends for 2023

 We go beyond bubbles and check out the wines to watch for the year ahead.

We’re looking at the most exciting English wine trends for 2023.  Because whilst sparkling wine producers are smashing it on the international wine award circuit, there is a new generation of winemaking happening in the UK.  The English wine scene is fizzing with energy and innovation and it is taking still wine to the next level.

English Wine Trend #1: Red Wine hits the big time

English red wine and particularly English Pinot Noir has achieved the remarkable.  For the first time in its short history, it’s being considered as a credible and affordable alternative to Burgundy.  Bibendum, the UK’s leading premium wine specialist, puts English red wine as number three in its wine trends for 2023, alongside a resurgence in Champagne and a trend for salinity in cocktails. This is a big deal because it means that English red wine has cut through to the wider drinks scene. Whilst 75% of drinkers say they are interested in drinking English still wine, production is small, and supply is extremely limited. When you buy a bottle of English red, you are very much setting the trend at the premium end.

English Wine Trend #2: Sauvignon Blanc – world class quality

At the 2022 Global Sauvignon Masters, Woodchester Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2021 was named as one of the best in the world.  It is an “outstanding example of its type.”  This is big news for the English wine world. That’s because the wine performed so well in a blind tasting featuring some of the greatest SB producing countries in the world, such as New Zealand.  The wine was an immediate sell out. And such is the buzz, Woodchester Valley is taking registrations of interest for the ’22 release.  It’s the start of an English wine trend in 2023 for producing single varietal English Sauvignon Blanc. Greyfriars in Surrey has even made what could be the first sparkling Sauvignon Blanc in the UK

English Wine Trend #3: Natural wine – an English wine trend for 2023 and beyond.

What makes a natural wine is hotly debated. Broadly speaking there’s minimal intervention in the vineyard and cellar and the use of naturally occurring yeast.  There’s also a lack of filtration. This is what makes some natural wines look cloudy. Although sulphites are permitted, the levels are low. At the Hastings Natural Wine Fair, Natural English Wine producers, Tillingham and Ham Street held their own. This is impressive because they were being poured alongside long established natural wine countries, such as France, where the natural wine movement started in the 1970’s. Natural wine is not for everyone but converts are passionate.  And with an increasing interest in the environment and low intervention production, this is an English wine trend that will endure beyond 2023.

Final Thought

England is the most exciting cool-climate wine region in the world, yet 99% of wine we drink in the UK is still imported. Sign up to Marasby and join the 1%.