While the country that gave birth to pop culture phenomena such as The Beatles and even One Direction, the United Kingdom is certainly not known for its wine - but as the Mediterranean coast suffers a wave of bad crops this spring, English wines are getting their day in the sun.
As more and more studies prove the many benefits of drinking a small amount of wine a day (particularly red one), the industry sees a boost in consumption, and recently it even came out that people in the UK are drinking much more wine weekly than it had been previously thought - and that greatly includes English wine.
According to The Guardian, English wine has risen in the past few years from being rarely present in tables at the turn of the century to becoming among the most popular, rising in volume and appeal to connoisseurs of this iconic drink stemming from grapes.
Not long ago, the English Wine Producers (EWP), the professional body regulating this industry, stated that there were approximately 6.3 million bottles of the drink produced last year, and considering the slow but sure rise, there's a good chance 2015 will see a similar bump as they continually break their own records.
The Independent reports that the most notorious of English wines has been its sparkling variety for some time now, but in the past few years their still counterparts have also gone through a strong boost, and a white wine from Sussex just recently won a gold medal at the International Wine and Spirits Competition (ISWC), the first of its kind to do so.
"We are absolutely delighted," said Peter Gladwin, owner of the vineyard where the award-winning Nutbourne Sussex Reserve 2013 came from. "English wine is developing in quality and reputation year on year, and it is fantastic to have a still wine doing as well as some of the English sparkling. Nutbourne was pleased to win one of only two gold medals last year for our Nutty Brut 2011 Sparkling and now to have a similar achievement for one of our still wines is a great honor."
