Will 2025 be a bumper vintage for Sussex wines?

Stopham Wine Estate in West Sussex

With the local wine harvest in full swing, Nick Mosley talks to Sussex wine producers about their predictions for the 2025 vintage.

Its hard to believe the growth of English and Welsh wine in recent decades. Once thought of as a bit of a quirk – or even a joke by some sommeliers – time and time again both still and traditional method sparkling wines produced on our doorstep are steamrollering over much more established wine producing regions in Europe and New World at prestigious awards including Decanter and IWSC.

According to Wine GB – the national representative body the UK industry – there are just under 5000 hectares of the UK countryside under vine, of which around 4/5ths is currently in production. It takes several years for vines to establish themselves so its clear to see the exponential growth and investment that is happening with plantings up 510% since 2005.

Without doubt, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier are the dominant grapes. Although they can be utilised in the production of still wines, they’re predominantly used for double-fermentation sparkling wines as you’d find in the Champagne region and the production of Cava in Spain.

Other grapes that thrive in the cool climate terroir of the UK, have classically been Germanic varieties such as Bacchus and Reichensteiner but many producers over the past 20 years or so have seized on Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc that can be found from Alsace to northern Italy – and in marginal wine producing regions in Canada and north Pacific coast USA, both grapes are flavourful, fruit-packed and perhaps more relevant to contemporary tastes.

Grape farming and wine making takes a lot of skill and commitment, and it will come as no surprise that volumes and quality of the juice are dependent on often unreliable environmental inputs. 2018 and 2023 were bumper vintages for English but what is the harvest looking like this year?

“The harvest for 2025 is looking great”, said Simon Woodhead of Stopham Estate near Pulborough. “A warm spring with no major frosts and a hot summer lead to optimal conditions for bud burst, flowering and fruit set. The quality is looking good, the fruit is clean and early ripening has meant that our harvest has been moved forward by roughly two weeks”.

Mark Collins from Artelium Wine Estate in East Sussex

Mark Collins from Artelium Wine Estate near Ditching Common in East Sussex, shares Simon’s optimism.

“The lack of rainfall has meant small bunches but also means that the disease pressure has been low this year. In short, a smaller yield but great fruit”, said Mark.

Local vintner Henry Butler of Butler’s Wine Cellar in St Georges Road, Brighton, agrees but cautions eager wine drinkers that you’ll be waiting a couple of years before enjoying this year’s traditional sparkling wines due to the slow in-bottle second fermentation that takes time to create the classic notes including toasted brioche and zesty green apple..

“We are having a timely dry snap for those harvesting at the moment”, said Henry. “We hope for another ripe vintage, if you want 2025 sparkling you'll have to wait until 2027-28 to get your mitts on it”.

Roebuck Estates in West Sussex

This year’s vintage will present both challenges and opportunities for English wine makers, with various opinions from businesses.

“Around 90% of English wine is enjoyed right here in the UK”, said Michael Kennedy, CEO of Roebuck Estates in West Sussex. “While the hospitality sector continues to face economic pressures and higher taxes, there are plenty of encouraging signs. More English wines are appearing on restaurant lists, and customers and retailers are actively seeking them out”.

“Interest from overseas is also on the rise. English wine is still a new discovery for many international markets, but awareness and enthusiasm are growing fast. The recent talk about the gap between supply and demand is, in many ways, a reflection of a young and exciting wine region finding its feet – and establishing itself as a serious player on the world stage”.

Stopham Estate’s Simon Woodhead says that environmental and financial impacts are the challenges for them.

“Typical challenges for us lie with the weather, excise duty, increasing production costs and more competition with more wines coming to market and some larger vineyards selling to retailers at lower prices than smaller producers”, said Simon.

As an annual crop, production meeting on-going demand is always a question for winemakers.

“We need to be mindful of racing ahead of ourselves and increasing production ahead of demand”, said Mark from Artelium. “On the other hand, our sparkling wine is five years in the making, so we have to make a judgement call at some stage on how much to make for the future”.

Henry from Butler’s Wine Cellar questions the industry’s capacity to store and mature wines, which must be done in controlled environments.

“I think some producers still have stocks of the bumper 2023 harvest to get through, so another big harvest might be problematical”, said Henry.

“Where is the increased demand going to come from? Sparkling wines are still at a luxury price point making it a tough sale when times are hard”.

What seems certain is that in terms of production, local winemakers are confident that 2025 will be a good year. And with the continued expansion of agricultural land under vine, alongside greater consumer awareness, it seems the industry as a whole is expecting to have a sparkling longterm future.