Chronicle of the Unknown Taster

Champagne houses eye up English vineyards

French producers are in the market for Kent and Sussex estates which have been outperforming them in competitions

Mark Honigsbaum
Tuesday May 31, 2005
The Guardian

From Kent’s Isle of Thanet to the Sussex Downs, what began as a rumour, or a bruit as the French might say, may soon become a brut reality.
French champagne houses, impressed by the strong performances of English wines in international competitions, are looking to buy English vineyards.

So far members of the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, the association of French growers and producers which controls the right to label and market sparkling wines as champagne, has approached at least two leading English winemakers with offers to purchase their prize-winning vines. But the English growers, buoyed by global warming and fizzing sales, have politely said non.