Quality Wine Status

You may have noticed that some English wines are labeled "English Table Wines" while some are labelled as  "English Quality Wine p.s.r". Recently we also have regional wine named by the county where the grapes originate, and you might occasionally see a wine labelled as "UK Table Wine". Maybe you haven't noticed. So what is the difference and what does it all mean?

English Table Wine is the equivalent of the French Vin de Table, and basically means that it is wine from grapes grown in England (the Welsh have their own version). There is no quality assurance - the wine may be very good, but it could be disappointing. This description is now illegal, and producers have to use the words "UK Table Wine" instead. Any wine labelled in this way is not allowed to state a grape variety, vintage or geographical description on the label (apart from UK). It is basically designed to be the bottom level of wine produced in the UK. 

English Quality Wine p.s.r. is the equivalent of the French Appelation Controlée, and means that the wine has 

• been through a detailed independent chemical analysis to ensure it is sound and in good condition (and likely to remain that way), 
• a professional tasting panel has assessed the wine's quality and agreed that it meats the standard.
• the wine department of DEFRA have checked the winemakers records to ensure it complies with the European winemaking regulations.

In short it is a guarantee that the wine is of a reasonable quality (or better). An increasing percentage of English wines carry this label, and they are worth looking out for. The p.s.r. stand for "produced in a specified region" which means Made in England (and from English-grown grapes). Some grape varieties are not allowed to have the Quality wine label, because European law will not allow hybrid grape varieties into this scheme. Silly really, but that's European law.  All our dry wines have passed the Quality Wine Scheme, and have therefore been assessed by professional tasters and accepted as QUALITY products.

The regional wine scheme caters for producers that grow varieties like Seyval blanc, which are banned from the Quality Wine Scheme. The producer can submit his own chemical analysis of the wine,rather than getting one from an independent laboratory. The wine is tasted by a professional panel but the pass mark is slightly lower than for the Quality Wine Scheme. There is also no need for winemaking records to be checked by the Wine Standards Board. These wines would be labelled "Sussex Regional Wine" or equivalent from other counties.

Sparkling wines can be labeled as English Quality Sparkling Wines if they are made by the Traditional method (i.e. bottle fermented and aged on lees for over 9 months). These wines have no requirement to pass the rigorous assessment mentioned above, and therefore the term English Quality Sparkling Wine is not any assurance of Quality, but rather a guide to the production method. A better guide to sparkling wine quality is by looking for wines that have won awards in competitions. Most competitions have extremely competent judges, and they don't give away the prizes easily.