British vineyards thrive: How did summer 2023 impact our wine?

Vineyards across Britain are thriving amidst the warming climate, placing new wine regions on the map. But how did summer 2023 impact our wines?

As a result of the warming climate, winemakers are able to produce varieties of wine that are more traditionally accustomed to France, such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, perhaps soon to be Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, as our climate continues to warm.

Meteorologist and Reporter Tamsin Green went to visit Fairmile Vineyard, in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, to speak to Owner Jan Mirkowski about the impacts he's felt from the heat, particularly from summer 2022.

One Weather & Radar user even sent us in an action shot of Pinot Noir grapes being picked in Berkshire just the other week for this year's harvest.

Research by the University of Reading has shown that over one-fifth of the UK may have suitable weather by 2050 to grow Chardonnay grapes for still wines.

Taittinger and Pommery have already established vineyards in England, while the Champagne region itself is growing uncomfortably hot.

But how has the summer of 2023 impacted the crops? With an above-average June, but a below-average July and August in terms of temperatures, it wasn't exactly the record-breaker that we saw in 2022.

Although two out of three of the summer months were below-average in terms of temperature, the warm June meant that the summer has a whole averaged a fraction above-average still, accompanied by around-average sunshine.

The summer as a whole was also wetter than normal, particularly through July and August when successive low pressure systems spun in off the Atlantic, including two named storms, Antoni and Betty.

That being said, the harvest each year relies a lot on the previous year and vice versa, based on the conditions that the vines had to deal with prior, as well as the growing conditions. So this year's or next year's batch could still produce a decent harvest.

We'll just have to wait another two to three years for the wines to reach our shelves to know just how much impact the summer held.