English red wine is the hardest wine to make in this country, and the newest. Red wine needs genuine ripeness rather than merely adequate ripeness, because colour, tannin and flavour all come from the skins and all require the fruit to get properly there. In a cool climate with a short autumn, that is a tall order.
For most of English viticulture’s modern history it was not seriously attempted. What has changed is a combination of warmer seasons, better site selection, improved clones and a handful of newer varieties with the colour and structure to make it work.
The result is a style that is still being defined. English reds are generally light to medium-bodied, bright and red-fruited, with modest alcohol and fresh acidity. They are closer to a cool-vintage Burgundy or a Loire red than to anything from a warm climate, and they are at their best when they play to that rather than against it.
The Process: English Red Wine
Picking. Everything depends on this. Red fruit is picked as late as the season allows, because unripe skins give green, hard tannin that no amount of winemaking will fix. The risk is obvious: every extra day on the vine in an English October is another day of rain and
exposure. Judging the point where ripeness gain stops outweighing fruit loss is the whole job.
Sorting. Rigorous, and more important here than for white or rosé. Any underripe or affected fruit carries straight through into the finished wine, because there is no skin-free juice to hide behind.
Destemming. Most English reds are fully destemmed. Stems can add structure and perfume where they are ripe, but in a cool climate they are often green and would add exactly the bitterness the wine can least afford. Some producers include a proportion of whole bunches in warmer years.
Maceration and fermentation. Here the juice stays with the skins, which is the fundamental difference from white and rosé. Fermentation runs warmer than for white wine, typically in the low to mid 20s°C, because warmth extracts colour and tannin.
During fermentation the skins rise to form a cap at the surface, and it has to be kept in contact with the liquid. This is done by punching down, pushing the cap back into the wine, or pumping over, drawing juice from below and splashing it across the top. Gentler handling means softer extraction, which in a cool climate is usually what you want.
Total time on skins is generally shorter than in warmer regions — because over-extracting cool-climate fruit pulls out hard tannin rather than more flavour.
In 2026 we were able to produce two different red wines using our three Pinot Noir clones, Cabernet Noir and Pinot Meunier. All of our red grapes reached still wine ripeness levels and we've chosen two very different fermentation methods with more information to come in the future.
After fermentation. Red wine almost always goes through malolactic fermentation, which converts sharp malic acid into softer lactic acid. For English reds this matters more than anywhere else, because the natural acidity is high and malolactic takes the edge off.
Ageing. Some English reds see oak, usually older barrels rather than new, which gives gentle oxygen exchange and texture without adding obvious oak flavour to a wine that hasn’t the weight to carry it. Others stay in stainless steel.
Botrytis
A fungus that can cause grey rot in grapes.
Here, the term refers to the risk of rot damaging
fruit while growers wait for it to ripen.
The effect on the wine
The whole process is a negotiation between extraction and restraint.
Skin contact gives colour, tannin and structure, and that is what makes a red wine a red wine. But cool-climate fruit has thinner, less ripe skins, so pushing hard for extraction gets you green tannin rather than depth. The best English reds are made by taking less, gently, and letting the fruit character lead.
Malolactic softens the acidity that would otherwise dominate. Older oak adds texture without flavour. Full destemming keeps green notes out.
What ends up in the glass is a wine of real freshness: bright red fruit, modest alcohol, fine rather than heavy tannin, and an acidity that makes it considerably better with food than most people expect. These are not big wines, and they are not trying to be. Served slightly cool, they do something no warm-climate red can.
Our approach at Dillions
Our Noir upcoming 2025 release is a blend of Cabaret Noir and Pinot Noir, grown on free-draining sandy loam in the High Weald and made in partnership with Defined Wines in Kent. It is a small-batch wine with just 750 bottles, and the 2023 sold out very quickly.
Cabaret Noir, a modern hybrid grape is one of the reasons we've been able to make fantastic red wine. It is a modern disease-resistant variety that ripens well in this climate and brings genuine depth of colour and firmer tannin, where Pinot Noir alone in a cool English season might give something pale and light. The Pinot brings perfume and lift. Together they make a wine with both structure and fragrance.
English Red Wine: Frequently asked questions
Is red wine made in England?
Yes, though in much smaller quantities than sparkling or still white. Red wine requires riper fruit than other styles, which is difficult to achieve reliably in a cool climate with a short autumn. Warmer seasons, better sites and newer varieties have made English red wine viable in a way it was not twenty years ago.
What does English red wine taste like?
English reds are typically light to medium-bodied, with bright red fruit — cherry, raspberry, redcurrant — fine tannin, modest alcohol and fresh acidity. They are closer in style to a cool-vintage Burgundy or a Loire red than to a warm-climate wine, and they suit food particularly well.
How is red wine made differently from white?
Red wine is fermented with the grape skins, white wine without them. Colour, tannin and much of the flavour in red wine come from that skin contact. Red fermentation also runs warmer, to aid extraction, and nearly always goes through malolactic fermentation to soften acidity.
Why is English red wine often served slightly chilled?
Lighter reds with bright acidity show better a little below room temperature, around 14–16°C, which lifts the fruit and keeps the wine refreshing. Served fully warm, lighter reds can seem flat. A short spell in the fridge before opening is usually enough.
What grapes are used for English red wine?
Pinot Noir is the most widely planted, though in cool seasons it gives a pale, light wine on its own. Disease-resistant varieties such as Cabaret Noir and Rondo are increasingly used to add colour and structure, often in blends with Pinot Noir.
Why is English red wine more expensive than imported red?
Yields are low, the growing season is marginal, and red wine demands the ripest fruit of any style, so the crop that qualifies is small. Most English reds are made in genuinely small batches, which carries a cost no large volume producer faces.
