By the first century AD, vines were thriving in Britain. The Domesday Book of 1086 records a total of 83 working vineyards in Britain. With the dissolution of the monasteries in 1530, many vineyards fell into disuse and there followed a period of several hundred years when vine growing became virtually non-existent. After The Second World War, the wine industry cautiously re-emerged and it has steadily been gaining popularity ever since. Today, there are over 300 vineyards in England and Wales, occupying approximately 1,000 acres.
Most British wine is white and produced from Germanic grape varieties.
The cold climate and in particular, the wet summers, don't provide ideal vine growing conditions and there is substantial crop wastage from each harvest. Fortunately, British wine producers remain enthusiastic and determined to produce as much good quality wine as possible. Their persistence is often rewarded with great vintages, such as the 1989 yield when over 4.26 million bottles of wine were produced. The best white wines are produced from the M ller-Thurgau, Sch nburger, Bacchus, G tenborner, Seyval Blanc, Morio Muscat and Sylvaner grapes. There are also some decent red and ros wines made from the Pinot Noir, Zweigeltrebe and Gamay grapes.