New, improved British wine!

[tonyhibbett]

While 'English' wine is made purely from English (and Welsh) grown grapes, 'British' wine is made from imported grapes and/or grape products and 'country' wines are made from ingredients which may not include grapes. Mead is a special category, made from honey, but classed as wine if it has at least 8% abv. Most wine kits are therefore British or country wines. Originally, British wine was made from raisins or primitive concentrates and were rather poor, while British country wines were made with bread yeast and often rather sweet to disguise their deficiencies. The brief boom and rapid decline of the home winemaking industry was based on poor quality grape concentrates, while the availability of relatively cheap commercial wine, resulting from EC subsidies and the famous 'wine lake' changed habits.
The production of good quality affordable white grape juice as a healthy drink has changed matters. It is now possible to make good white wine from pure white juice, plus some sugar, for under £1 per bottle. The subtle nuances of more expensive commercial wines can be simulated with the addition of small amounts of other ingredients at little extra cost, as I have discovered. However, in doing so, the wine effectively becomes a country wine, although the end result could well be superior to an English wine, and considerably cheaper to produce, and I say that as an English wine producer!

 

[bobsbeer]

However, in doing so, the wine effectively becomes a country wine, although the end result could well be superior to an English wine, and considerably cheaper to produce,

I think you are right. While I don't particularly like the original WOW, the ratio it was based on appears to work with other fruit juices. And as a result a surge of popularity in wine making has been the result.

The brief boom and rapid decline of the home winemaking industry

Although I'm not sure of the rapid decline in domestic commercial wine production, the domestic wine compared to French and New World was rather abysmal. So unfortunately the domestic producers today have a rather high mountain to climb if they are to have domestic wine in the UK considered to be decent wine.

The production of good quality affordable white grape juice as a healthy drink has changed matters. It is now possible to make good white wine from pure white juice, plus some sugar, for under £1 per bottle.

I'm not sure about that. Adding other juice to the pressed grape juice makes a better wine in my opinion and for around the same price. But I agree the availability has allowed domestic home wine production to flourish.

 

[tonyhibbett]

I totally agree. Combinations of white grape and apple certainly produce much better white wine than with apples alone and vice versa, if using supermarket juice.
The situation with red wine remains somewhat tricky and may remain so. The difference between a good red and passable white is the difference between Aretha Franklin and Britney Spears.

 

[bobsbeer]

The situation with red wine remains somewhat tricky and may remain so

I think you are right there. While I have tried many times to produce a decent red from supermarket juice I have failed miserably. Drinkable it may be, but it could not be described as good. The best has always been a decent varietal grape concentrate, as un concentrated as possible, with little or no added sugar or other juice. Sadly quality costs. And the more I spend the better the wine gets. :hmm: I wish I lived in the States where you can get 25lt buckets of unconcentrated grape juice. Shame we can't get a similar product from France.