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- English wine in strong demand
News Desk
English wines are booming with recent figures showing that wine drinking in the UK is up 50 per cent since 1992 with home grown wines leading the charge. Sales of wine have increased more than any other type of alcohol over the last 20 years, even higher than beer or spirits. Leading the charge to capitalise on this change in drinking habits is Laithwaites who have established a vineyard in Theale Vineyard producing a Chardonnay 2005 English Quality Sparkling Wine RRP £22.99.
The grapes for this wine are grown in Laithwaites own vineyard which is planted just outside of their Head Office in Theale (near Reading).
Speaking to the London Daily News a Laithwaites spokesperson said:
"The vineyard was planted in 1998, with advice from Mike Roberts, the winemaker at Ridgeview. The vines are all Chardonnay, and produce between 500 and 1000 bottles of sparkling wine every year. The grapes are usually harvested by Laithwaites staff, before being taken to the Ridgeview winery where Mike Roberts oversees the winemaking."
The climate in the UK has also seen more vineyards appearing, but this has not seen a "cultural change" in the mentality of English wine drinkers. In comparison the continent sees far less "binge-drinking" and more social drinking with friends and family. There are around 10 million people drinking regularly at hazardous levels and 6,789 alcohol related deaths.
Calls have also been made by Sir Terry Leahy the Chief Executive of Tesco to introduce a "minimum price" for selling alcohol.
The official NHS definition of binge-drinking is eight units for men and six for women in one day.
The figures published by the Government in a report "Statistics on Alcohol: England 2010" showed that women from managerial or professional backgrounds are 19 per cent more likely to drink heavily at home, compared with women from working-class households.
Last year, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that one in six women over 16, drinks more than double the recommended daily amount of two to three units (about one-and half glasses of wine) and that binge-drinking among women has almost doubled in recent years.
The NHS report also found that those aged between 45 and 64 admitted to having drunk alcohol on five or more days in the previous week.
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