England

Back in 2018 I wrote in that year’s vintage report that “They’ll be dancing in the streets of Tunbridge Wells.” As well as being a rather lame homage to the late, great Bill McLaren it was an attempt to describe the euphoria of the English vineyards at the outcome of the 2018 harvest. Well, five years on it looks as if 2023 is another vintage that might bring on dad dancing in the Home Counties. The spring was largely frost free and a dry June allowed a successful flowering. Crucial to setting what would turn out to be a bumper crop was the wet July: the vines soaked up the moisture, grew strongly and started to ripen the grapes. Coming into September, the vines were laden with grapes but there was some anxiety about the weather on the run in to the harvest. The growers need not have worried, the skies cleared and we experienced several weeks of excellent late summer weather. In many cases the picking was able to start a little earlier than usual. It is hard to find any dissenting voices concerning both the quality and quantity of the fruit.