The sparkling—and surprising—success of England’s wine industry. IT WAS an English cuvée for a very English day. “Nervy”, with “an austere, honeyed character”, was how one winemaker described the bubbly on offer on a wet afternoon at Denbies, a vineyard in Surrey that is also Britain’s largest. Nervy and austere, too, is the connoisseur’s traditional view of British-made wines. But after years of reputational blight, the industry is starting to see the buds of progress.