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.
Styles vary from light dry, somewhat neutral to aromatic, green and tangy flavoured wines.
Some are rather too heavily scented with aromas of elderflower and pot pourri. The only real problem with some British wine is that it can, on occasions, taste too sugary. However, there are some excellent wines worth seeking out, especially sparkling wines, such as Nyetimber. Each year, British wine producers present their best quality wines for testing and the EVA only awards its seal of approval to the very best. An EVA seal on a bottle of wine guarantees quality.