The 2018 wine growing season in England & Wales been described as “textbook perfect”, and “the perfect year for growing grapes”.  So what exactly was it about the way the weather behaved that had vineyard managers (and accountants) so excited?

In the English Wine Growing Season 2018 report (pdf) temperatures and rainfall are tracked through the growing season and related to critical grape phenology stages. What emerges is a picture of how the weather fully cooperated at key stages to enable a record quantity of high quality grapes to be produced.  This could very well help propel 2018 into being a breakthrough year for the wines of England & Wales.