It seems that barely a week passes without it being a week for something: national construction week; national giving week; national insect week; national downshifting week. You name it, we've got a week for it, and in truth, the majority pass me by without as much as a second thought. This week, though, is the exception to the rule.

This weekend is the remaining few days of English Wine Week, a period that the marketing folk hope will have seen us celebrating English wines'. We are talking more and more about carbon footprints and the desire to buy local, yet English wines remain for many an anathema.

Wine aficionados continue to wrinkle their noses at the very mention of English wine and yet all the indicators are pointing those who wish to be seen as trend-setters rather than followers firmly in the direction of the home turf. It is an uncomfortable truth that our climate is changing. While the English climate was once considered just that bit too chilly for serious grape growing, it has, in recent times, become both warmer and more reliable.

For English winegrowers this is good news on two fronts. Firstly, crops are more reliable and sensible yields mean that the economic proposition is substantially more attractive. Secondly, the dependence on Germanic grape varieties such as müller-thurgau and reichensteiner in the vineyard is passing and plantings of varieties such as chardonnay and pinot noir are steadily rising.

In recent times the kudos of English wines has been enhanced by several high-profile endorsements. We have heard that the Queen has a penchant for Nyetimber sparkling and winemakers from abroad have been showing a keen interest in buying land here for vineyards. Duval-Leroy, one of Champagne's leading houses, has recently been discussing a venture with wine writer Steven Spurrier to develop his wife's farm in Dorset for English sparkling wine production and there are rumours of other big names looking to make their mark on English soils.

Brightwell Vineyard is located just outside Wallingford and its owner Bob Nielsen is a man determined to bring English wines to a bigger audience. On the day I visited he was particularly upbeat about the very recent successes of two of his wines at the Concours des Vins des Vignerons Indépendants in France. More than 5,000 wines were entered and tasted blind (by a French jury) and to come home with both a gold and a sliver medal is no mean feat.

The decision to be an English winemaker is not an obvious one, and Bob, by his own admission, came to it more by accident than design. "The vineyard came with the house and we had to decide to take it on as a project or take it out altogether," he said.

With no background in wine he applied himself to transforming what had previously been a 'hobby vineyard' into something much more serious with the help of a few books and 'common sense'.

Discipline and lots of hard work have brought Bob and his wife Carol to the point where they are producing 30,000 bottles a year of white, rosé and red wines. An on-site winery is almost complete and the release of their first ever sparkling wine is due at Christmas. There is no question that Bob and Carol are fantastically motivated. "If we make a vineyard work here, it's a real achievement - uniquely satisfying - we'll have done it in a country where there is no infrastructure and there are no subsidies for wine producers."

Bob acknowledges that selling English wines isn't an easy task. "People need to taste the wines. They taste, they're surprised they like them and then they buy them."

While I was there, Carol was working on the 2006 wines with their winemaker and so I didn't get a chance to taste those but I did get a sample of the gold medal-winning Crispin 2005.

Bob calls this "soft-dry", a term I rather like. The wine is soft, with direct, clean fruits and refreshing acidity. An English pinot grigio, if you will, and really very lovely.

Other wines from the 2005 vintage showed very nicely indeed, in particular, the 2005 rosé, which was crammed full of generous strawberry fruits.

If you missed English Wine Week this time around maybe you will make 2007 your year to get to know our local wines that bit better. You can make a start with this week's excellent Oxford Times Wine Club mixed case from Brightwell Vineyards.

You can see what your local vineyard is doing this weekend for English Wine Week by visiting www.englishwineweek.co.uk Sarah McCleery is a wine journalist living in Oxfordshire who contributes to various publications. Sarah has worked in the wine trade for over ten years and has tasted, bought and written about wines from all over the world. She holds the Wine and Spirits Education Trust Diploma.

John Stimpfig has left The Oxford Times Wine Club to concentrate on other business interests.

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