It's the same soil that Champagne is famous for

Oz Clarke explains to Alex Corlett why there's never been a better time to buy British bubbly for your Christmas celebrations.

If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that warmer weather is here to stay.

Earlier springs and later winters mean our plants and wildlife are behaving differently and farmers and landowners are having to adapt.

Whilst a few spots in south-east England have always clung on to the dream of producing British wine, it hasn’t been made here in any meaningful quantities since Roman times.

But all that is changing, as wine guru Oz Clarke explains in his new book, English Wine”.

England and the odd spot in Wales) is becoming the newest new world” of wine, meaning there’s never been a better time to buy a bottle of something British for your Christmas table.

But what makes good wine, and how has England come to the fore?

“Basically, the main question is about sunshine.

“We don’t typically have massive amounts in the UK, but it’s all about micro-climates,” Oz says.

“For instance, there are about twenty-five vineyards already in Yorkshire.

“You can stand in the Wolds of Yorkshire as in the Lincolnshire Wolds on good limestone soil and see the clouds piling up over Pickering and the moors, but you're in sunshine.

“There can be only a mile or two between you and the rain, but it makes all the difference.

“Take the Dengie Peninsula in Essex, situated between the Blackwater and Crouch estuaries, which both attract rain from the North Sea.

“The peninsula is only a few miles wide and three miles long, but it has fantastic weather and some of the best table wines in England.”