Please to see Mr. Seely’s UK enterprises doing well.The [url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/013a0c02-10fb-11e5-9bf8-00144feabdc0.html]Financial Times[/url] wrote:English wine used to be considered second-rate but no more. A record 90 per cent of English wines tasted by an expert panel at the world’s largest wine competition this week received an award.
The success at the Decanter World Wine Awards is expected to provide a further boost to England’s booming vineyards.
“The sheer quality of fruit that has emerged this year has defied our wildest expectations, as has the harnessing of real winemaking craftsmanship within our enterprise, which is what accounts for the quality of the wines,” said Nicholas Coates from Coates & Seely, a Hampshire vineyard that won the best sparkling wine over £15 from the UK.
[…]
English sparkling wine producers will also be aiming to cash in on a Prosecco shortage caused by a poor harvest in Italy. Growers say they are also tapping into rising shopper demand for locally sourced food and drink.
Still, despite recent growth, English wine production remains a long way behind France in terms of volume. France produces about 7bn to 8bn bottles per year; over 1,000 times more than England and Wales, and English wine still only accounts for a mere 0.14 per cent of sales within the UK market.
(I can ‘gift’ the article to those to whom it is important.)