Warm dry summer expected to produce top vintage for UK wines
English wine producers are expecting a top quality 2025 vintage after “optimal” weather conditions for many winemakers this summer.
Comparisons have already been drawn to the record-breaking harvest of 2018, which provided outstanding grape ripeness and yields.
Cherie Spriggs, head winemaker at Nyetimber said she was “quietly optimistic” about this year’s harvest.
“2025 is definitely looking like it could produce some fantastic vintage wines, so we’re very excited to start exploring each parcel and hopefully discovering some outstanding potential,” Spriggs added.
English wine has been in the spotlight in the past few years, as more reliable weather and crop yields has attracted capital into the sector from high profile (and deep-pocketed) investors like Michael Spencer and Nigel Wray, who both own stakes in Chapel Down.
The number of UK vineyards has boomed: it exceeded 1,000 for the first time in 2023, according to the Food Standards Agency. The number of bottles produced is expected to pass 20m in 2025, from 13m in 2018.
English wine sales jumped three per cent in 2024 despite “tough economic conditions”, according to WineGB.
Visitor numbers to UK wine estates have also risen in recent years, as interest grows in enjoying wines in the surroundings where they are made.
In 2023, 1.5 million visits were recorded – a 55 per cent increase on 2022 – with WineGB expecting UK vineyard visitor numbers to grow by 20 per cent through to 2029.
2025 harvest ‘best in quite some time’
Tinwood Estate’s owner Art Tukker told the drinks business that “2025 is shaping up to be one of the best harvests, in terms of quality, that we have seen for quite some time.”
“Yields are just a touch above average, but ripeness and flavour are predicted to be very high this season due to long spells of sunshine we’ve had,” he said. “Bud break, flowering and now veraison are two weeks ahead of average.”
Fellow winemaker Chapel Down expects to return to profit this year after enjoying a strong start to 2025 following a poor harvest last year.
Winemakers in England had suffered the second-worst harvest on record last year, with wet weather and disease hitting yields.
Nyetimber owner Eric Heerema said: “The approach of the English grape harvest is always a slightly nervous time; however, this year we have more reasons to feel confident in the quality of our grapes.”