United Kingdom
Perhaps it is not ready to be called a ‘mature’ industry yet, but British viticulture is certainly beyond just being a tourist curio. The result is increasing quality and appeal. The acidity obvious in many English wines gives them a surprising capability to age, gaining roundness and breadth with the years. Three Choirs is one of England’s bigger producers with modern facilities near Newent in Gloucestershire. Their wine is fruity and easy going. Monnow Valley is just over the border in Wales near Monmouth - their wine is dry and crisp. David Millington’s Wroxeter vineyards are just 5 miles from our head office in Shrewsbury. The wine is made from Madeleine Angevine and is fresh and elegant with elderflower undertones. From Herefordshire, the Frome Valley Madelaine Angevine is aromatic, dry and crisp.

Switzerland
Standing on the road at Dézaley you cannot see the vineyards because they are underneath you on precipitous slopes, like thousands of suspended walled gardens, where they derive extra benefits from sunshine reflected off the waters of Lake Geneva. The big gentle whites from these vineyards contrast with the more citric whites and fascinating reds from the Valais, below the ski areas of Zermatt, Verbier and Crans Montana.

Austria
Simply brilliant wines are coming out of Austria in all styles. Please buy more: we would love to ship more! The area surrounding Neusiedlersee, a large shallow lake which runs into Hungary, is one of the world’s great dessert wine producing areas. Humid autumns are perfect for botrytised wines and severely cold winters for Eisweins. The dry whites have more in common with Alsace wines than those of Germany. The best wines for Riesling and Grüner Veltliner are to the west of Vienna, in Kamptal and Wachau.

Hungary
Aszú means “dried out”, describing the shrivelled, rotted grapes that are added to the fresh dry wine. Our Aszús are honeyed on the nose, implicitly sweet with remarkable, explosive fruit. The Birsalmás, classified as a second growth in 1700, is that much more intense and complex. Nyulas or Nyulászó is a first growth vineyard whose name translates as “the rabbit warrens”. These wines are excellent now, but it would be very exciting to re-discover a forgotten bottle of either at the back of the cellar in twenty years time!