This column comes to you from the verdant pastures of East Sussex, and a very English village with a very French name: Herstmonceux.

Majestic oak trees, hedge-lined lanes, red-brick cottages with signs at the bottom of the garden saying, ‘Trugs made here.’ For a visitor from the north, it all looks incredibly lush, even on a blustery day in February.

But it would be a mistake to think of it as sleepy or sunk-in-time, for this is one of most exciting and innovative wine regions in the world. ‘In the world?’ Yes, because, while other areas in France or Australia may be experimenting and refining what they do, nowhere is rocketing ahead in terms of quality and diversity like England.

A prime example of that great forward movement is the winery I’d come to visit, Henners. When I first tasted one or two of their wines a decade ago, I thought they were pleasant but not particularly impressive. I’d already been looking for good English wines for several years, but almost always they were overly acidic and lacking in fruit.

Slowly things started to improve. Investments in better vineyards and winery equipment. Degree-level education at Plumpton College (20 miles west of Henners.) And above all the abandonment of obscure grape varieties like Madeline Angevine and Huxelrebe (no, me neither!) in favour of some of the classic grapes that thrive just across the channel: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier.

It’s those three grapes that Henners grow, and it’s the range of wines made from them (sparkling and still) that grabbed my attention at a recent trade tasting and have brought me here for a day amongst the vines.

What better guide than head winemaker Collette O’Leary. New owners, committed to quality, took over in 2017 and brought in Collette two years later. Energy, intelligence, and commitment radiate from her, and it’s easy to see why her arrival has been a key factor in Henners meteoric rise.

The vineyard is dormant at this time of year, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t work to do. Will Robinson, vineyard manager, was pruning redundant canes off the vines when I arrived, reducing them to little more than black stumps. In the spring new growth will burst out, and by October the vines will be laden with bunches of ripe, juicy grapes.

The south-facing land slopes down sharply, ensuring good drainage: vines don’t like having wet feet. Unlike most wine producing countries, too much water can be a problem in England, even here in a warm and dry microclimate. Luckily, the English Channel is just four miles away, and sea breezes blow in regularly, reducing the risk of mildew and other diseases.

Back in the new tasting room – built to accommodate the growing public interest in English wine – Collette and cellar door manager Rebecca Apley poured a series of excellent wines: three sparkling and three still. The quality of all these was miles ahead of any similar selection of English wines I’ve tried. Any winery anywhere in the world would be proud to achieve such consistent quality across a range of styles.

There’s not space here to give tasting notes – I’ll write a separate blog containing those – but suffice it to say the Henners Brut was a superb sparkler, better balanced than comparably priced Champagnes. And the Gardener Street Classic was a revelation. It contains 15% Chardonnay and, unusually for Henners, 85% Bacchus – one of those obscure and insipid grapes that used to be England’s bane.

In Collette’s hands, the Bacchus is transformed into a wine of beautiful aromatics, somewhere between elderflower and Sauvignon Blanc. I can see this becoming a summer favourite in the shop.

What’s the secret of Henners’ leap forward in quality? ‘We go where the fruit takes us,’ says Collette. I’ll be delighted to follow.

This was my 100th column for The Orcadian! There have been more blog posts than that, of course as some blogs start of their own volition, rather than as columns. But since March 2020, in the first weeks of lockdown, when the paper asked me to contribute The Diary of a Shopkeeper, I’ve set pen to paper one hundred times. What better way to celebrate such a landmark than by raising a glass of - no, not Champagne - but one of Henners fantastic sparkling English wines!

This diary appeared in The Orcadian on 23rd February. A new one appears weekly. I post them in this blog a few days after each newspaper appearance, with added illustrations., and occasional small corrections or additions.

Diary of a Shopkeeper, 20th February