English grape growers have begun their annual harvest as industry experts predict that home-grown wine production will almost double in the next six years.
Despite a lacklustre British summer, the brief sunny spell during the Wimbledon fortnight fell during the vine flowering period, boosting domestic grape production.
This year's harvest among England's 416 wine-growers is expected to produce at least three million bottles of still and sparkling wine.
But the figure is still far behind seasoned wine producer France's formidable eight billion-bottle output.
Approximately 1,106 hectares of land are now dedicated to grape-growing - an increase of 45% since 2005, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The English Wine Producers association predicts that with further acreage being planted, English wine production will rise to 5.6 million bottles by 2015 - 3.7 million of which will be sparkling wine.
Stuart Smith, who runs Ryedale Vineyards in Westow, near York, England's most northerly commercial producer, said he hoped to produce 3,000 bottles of white and rose wine this year compared to 450 last year and eventually increase this output to 20,000 in five years' time.
He said: "We're a relatively new vineyard, last year was our first crop. This year we've had particularly good weather - the heat in June brought the vines into flower quite early and we missed much of the wet weather in July. We had some rain, but it wasn't too bad.
"In general, the climate is warming, making it possible to grow grapes in the south of England and increasingly further north."
Mr Smith's team has begun harvesting the early black grapes and the process will continue for the next month over his two sites, which contain 10,000 vines.
