insideKENT Magazine Issue 66 - September 2017 | Page 60

FOOD+DRINK
KENT:
A wine lover’s dream
BY LISAMARIE LAMB
OUR AMAZING COUNTY OF KENT IS KNOWN AS THE GARDEN OF
ENGLAND, AND FOR GOOD REASON. HERE YOU CAN FIND A BOUNTIFUL
AMOUNT OF PRODUCE FROM OUR ENVIABLE ORCHARDS, OUR FERTILE
FARMYARDS, OUR WONDERFUL WOODLAND AND EVEN SOME OF THE
VERY BEST VINEYARDS IN THE COUNTRY.
Wine from Kent is up there with the best of
them, winning awards and gaining fans
seemingly every day. English wine (that is,
wine made in the UK from grapes grown in
England, as opposed to British wine which is
wine made in the UK with grapes imported
from elsewhere) is taking the vinification world
by storm and far from being the butt of the
joke as it once was, it is now revered the world
over.
And if you’re wondering just where this
fabulous wine can be found, you might be
surprised at the number of winemakers and
vineyards Kent is home to.
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Despite the Romans having taken over Kent
by AD250, and despite the fact that they drank
(and made) copious amounts of wine, by the
time they left our shores in the 5th century,
there was no real evidence left behind that
wine making had ever happened. Tools, yes.
Villas, yes. Bones, yes. But vines and wine?
Not a jot. Not a sip.
And it wasn’t until 1969 that anything
happened to change our idea that wine
making in England simply wasn’t possible.
With our weather? With our soil? Wine? It had
to be a joke, and yet 1969 is the year in which
the very first vineyard was planted in our
county. It was planted by the Barnes family,
and it is still producing excellent quality grapes
today. You may even have tasted the final
product – that vineyard was Biddenden, and
four decades on it is now one of many Kentish
vineyards that are the envy of the world.
In total, Kent has around 350 acres of wine
producing vineyards, and the wine it does
produce has won award after award. So where
are these fine wine producing vines? You may
be surprised.