OZ SAYS: Winemaking in England goes back a very long time, and for a very long time, as far as we can tell, it was pretty successful. It was probably the Romans who brought the vine to England, and by the 11th century, according to the Domesday book, there were at least 38 vineyards. Vines and wines flourished for the next century: the success of English vineyards during the Middle Ages was partly due to the prevailing climate of northern Europe which, on average, was at least 1 degree warmer than in modern times - though that's rapidly changing now. However, when Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, the English love affair with the red wines of Bordeaux began and English vineyards began a long, predictable decline.

There are now vineyards in all but a few counties of England and Wales - even Yorkshire's got a couple - but most commercial ones lie south of a line drawn from the Wash to the Bristol Channel, with Kent and Sussex being the most heavily planted. However, with around 800 hectares (2000 acres) of vines, 330 vineyards (many very small), 115 wineries and an average annual output of around 2 million bottles, the industry is still tiny. Nevertheless, producers have learnt which varieties of vine are successful (Bacchus, Schonburger and Seyval Blanc for whites; Rondo, Regent, Dornfelder and Pinot Noir for reds; and Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier, the classic Champagne grapes, for quality sparkling), how to train and trellis them to cope with the (usually) cool summers (Britain is at the northern extreme of wine production) and - most importantly - how to make sound, sometimes excellent, wines. Site selection plays a crucial part in the battle against climate, in particular late frosts and rot, and the grapes are often not ripe enough to pick until well into October, so an Indian summer is crucial - but we get one of those almost every year nowadays.

In particular, sparkling wines have shown they can equal Champagne in quality, and even growers from Champagne are taking notice; a producer of very good Champagne has now planted 9 hectares (22 acres) in Hampshire and strong rumours swirling around the southern counties suggest that more, and bigger, guns are now following - after all, the chalk soils of the North and South Downs are identical to the vineyard soils of Champagne. Planting of Champagne varieties shows no sign of letting up, with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir about to take the top two places in terms of national area under vine. English sparkling wine is not just a flash in the pan, and as global warming continues, England - at least in the short to medium term - will be able to benefit massively on the naturally well drained chalk and greensand Downlands which dominate the landscape in Kent, Sussex and Surrey.

The style of wine varies more between wineries than between regions and depends on factors such as ripeness of grapes and winemaking techniques. The best whites are delicate and aromatic; ripening red varieties used to be a problem but warmer temperatures, in particular since 2001, better varieties specially bred for cool conditions, and up-to-date techniques are all helping to produce really decent red wines with more colour and higher natural sugar levels than anyone ever thought possible.

New regulations that require growers to submit their wines for testing before they can label them 'English' or 'Welsh' are starting to have an effect on quality; wines labelled 'UK table wine' should be avoided. The most popular winemaking counties (with my favourite wineries) are: Kent (Chapel Down, Biddenden, Sandhurst), East Sussex (Breaky Bottom, Davenport), West Sussex (Nyetimber, Ridgeview), Berkshire (Stanlake Park), Gloucestershire (Three Choirs), Hampshire (Wickham), Cornwall (Camel Valley), Devon (Sharpham) and Surrey (Denbies). 2005 was a good year with a dry September and October and the wines look exciting. 2006 was the warmest year since records began over 300 years ago. It was also a record year for publicity and column inches in the press and sales appear to be buoyant for the best wines and producers.

Oz Clarke