Why it's glass half full for Yorkshire's vineyards

As the wine flows over the festive period, there's a fair chance drinkers will be offered a glass of something from New Zealand, France or Spain. But how about a tipple from Yorkshire?

The county, best known for its rolling dales and hearty food, now has around 16 vineyards and its wine industry is growing.

According to Wine GB, wine production is the fastest-growing agricultural sector in the UK, boasting more than 1,000 vineyards.

Wine making in Yorkshire goes back to Roman times - and later the Cistercian monks at Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds and the Benedictines at St Mary's Abbey in York both had vineyards.

George Bowden, who runs Leventhorpe Vineyard near Woodlesford in Leeds, planted his first vines in 1985 - and now counts wine writer Oz Clarke and restaurateur Rick Stein among his fans.

Both have been "very generous with their praise", he said, adding they "only give praise where it is due".

Mr Bowden was a chemistry teacher when he bought the land at auction, bidding against two farmers for a fertile field which has the free-draining sandy soil his vines love.

He thanks his scientific background for his wine-making success, and now produces wine full-time after retiring from teaching.

"It's not an easy way to make a living – it's a fabulous way to make a living – but if you don't know what you're doing, it's ruinous," he said.

The climate and the increasing temperature has in fact been noted as one of the reasons why more people are making wine in the north of England.

Mr Bowden said: "If you lived here you wouldn't know it but it is a low rainfall area, amongst the lowest in the country.

"We are about one degree warmer than we were, but more rain takes the temperature down a bit, and it puts more moisture in the air which means you have more fungal problems and more trouble with insects.

"You just adapt to it, and the vines I've got adapt to it as well."

The vineyard covers about five acres, and produces dry whites, sparkling wines and a small amount of red.

Supplying restaurants, wine merchants and farm shops, Mr Bowden also sells directly from his site, which is hidden away down a rural road in Swillington.

Leventhorpe now has several wine-making neighbours including Holmfirth Vineyard, and in North Yorkshire there is Yorkshire Heart, Ryedale Vineyard and Carlton Towers near Selby.

The latter is a stately home owned by Lord and Lady Gerald Fitzalan Howard, who turned their walled garden into a vineyard to produce sparkling wine.

Smaller than Leventhorpe, Carlton Towers' vineyard is about 1.5 acres and has 2,200 vines.

Lord Fitzalan Howard said: "We have about 40% chardonnay and 60% pinot noir – the classic Champagne-making varieties.

"There are some really good wines coming out of Yorkshire now.

"English wine, particularly sparkling wine, is up there with Champagne, if not beating Champagne."

Champagne producers from France have also begun production in the UK due to the wet but warm climate.

Champagne Taittinger, along with its partner Hatch Mansfield, has a vineyard in Chilham, Kent, which opened its first bottle in September.

Nicola Bates from WineGB, the national industry association, said climate was a factor in the increase in UK wine production.

She said: "Average temperatures in the UK have risen by around 1°C since around the 1950s leading to more reliable grape ripening.

"This, combined with increased industry knowledge and expertise, investment and diversification into tourism and hospitality, and consumer interest in buying local, has contributed to the considerable growth of our industry."

In Selby, Lord Fitzalan Howard's sparkling wine sells for about £35 a bottle, which he said was "a very fair price for a wine on a par with Champagne".

His vineyard is in his home's walled garden, a former kitchen garden tended by his grandmother which he decided to turn into a base for wine making in 2016.

"We planted pinot noir in 2016 and chardonnay in 2016, and then we started making wine," he said.

Carlton Towers is a popular wedding venue, and the sparkling wine is often enjoyed by guests, as well as in their tea rooms.

Lord Fitzalan Howard described it as "much lighter, fruitier" than Champagne, but warned not all years of production had been fruitful.

"This year we had a bad summer, and the grapes weren't as good a quality as we needed them to be, so we fed them to the pigs.

"We have woodland pigs and for about a month we had very happy pigs, shall we say."

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