ENGLISH wine producers have enjoyed a bumper year with their highest ever profits, it is revealed today.

The nation’s wine industry has boomed in recent years with Sussex in particular - which benefits from the same chalky soil and climate conditions as the Champagne region of France - churning out scores of award winning bottles.

Independent English wine producers saw their turnover rise to a record £132 million last year, a new study published today has found.

The 16 per cent increase from the previous year shows that the industry has enjoyed major growth, online business finance firm Funding Options said.

Research revealed that wine producers are benefitting from the growing popularity of boutique British alcohol production, with gin and craft beer enjoying good business as well as wine.

Conrad Ford, founder of Funding Options, said: “English wine is going from strength to strength.

“The English wine industry is not only gaining traction amongst domestic consumers, but is now being ranked with wines from traditional white wine-producing countries such as France and Germany.”

Peter Hall, who set up the Breaky Bottom vineyard in Rodmell, near Lewes, in 1974, said: “I cannot see anything stopping that upward growth.

“When I started 43 years ago with six acres it was incredibly high risk.

“Smaller vineyards are buying more land and new ones are coming in all the time.

“It is undeniably down to the quality of the best wines in the UK.

“I’m half French and my French counterparts fully admit the quality of the best of what we make.

“The perception has changed too. It used to be that wine experts expected the best wine to be produced in France, but now people are looking for the best wines from all over the world.”

Mr Hall said that many English vineyards had suffered from hard frosts in the first part of this year.

However, with Sussex’s vineyards closer to sea, they’d had milder frosts and been spared the worst of the damage. Breaky Bottom suffered only two per cent losses - made up for by the warm summer which could result in an early harvest.