We Brits have always been better known for our wine consumption than wine production. As long ago as the ninth century, popes were complaining about alcohol-fuelled Anglo-Saxon pilgrims causing trouble in the Saxon quarter around St Peter’s. Statistics for last year show us ranking sixth in the world for overall wine consumption.

Unlike France, there is no sign of diminishing consumption; but there is a remarkable surge in wine production, both in quantity and quality. Leaving aside the blip of 2012, production has gone from three million bottles in 2011 to more than five million last year and a predicted 10 million by 2020. And whereas English wine was sneered at 20 years ago, our wine exports were worth £3 million last year and are expected to rise to more than £30m by 2020.

England is now a world-class player in the wine market, becoming renowned for its bubbles and regularly beating major Champagne houses in competition. The star of England’s sparkling wines, Nyetimber, produced in Sussex, was preferred outright at a recent blind tasting event in Paris. Sparkling wine accounts for 65 per cent of all English wine produced, with 25 per cent still white and a meagre 10 per cent red.