English Sparkling Wines Step Onto the World's Wine Stage

To modern wine drinkers, visions of fog-shrouded London and its short, lousy summers seem antithetical to viticulture. Yet, wine born of vineyards in present-day England dates to antiquity. During a warmer climate cycle two millennia ago, Romans grew grapes as far north as Suffolk. In the Nene Valley (now Northamptonshire), ancient vineyards unearthed by archaeologists spanned some 30 acres, churning out an equivalent of more than 13,000 bottles. Temperatures plunged during the Little Ice Age, leaving England too...