My last column focussed on the inherent unfairness of how we tax wine (a subject close to my heart, as regular readers will know). 

So it was very timely that last week saw the announcement of a new initiative to help us all appreciate the wonderful wine which is produced in our own backyard.

Norwich Wine Week, which runs from June 3-10, will see a series of events across the city, culminating in a two day festival in Chapelfield Gardens. 

This will see local producers and wine merchants showcasing the best of our county’s wines – a ticket will give you chance to sample wines from them, as well as access to live music, food vendors and a bar.

In addition, there will be a tasting tent, with a series of themed tastings with subjects including how to pair food and wine, natural wine, and my personal favourite, ‘Posh vs Plonk’.

This kind of awareness-raising event for our local wine producers is long overdue.  The quality of Norfolk’s wines has risen exponentially in recent years, but their reputation – both locally and further afield – has lagged behind the reality. 

Locally-made wine is nothing new.  Norfolk’s wine growing heritage dates back to the Roman era, and whilst climate change is a massive threat in so many ways, the one silver lining to that large, looming cloud is that it has become easier to ripen grapes in our previously fickle weather conditions.

By my reckoning there are 10 vineyards making wine in Norfolk, with annual production well into the hundreds of thousands of bottles.  That growth is down to three things.  The first is the weather: not just the effect of global warming, but the fact that East Anglia is the driest and sunniest region in the UK.

The second factor is what the French (who know about these things) call the ‘terroir’. 

That’s an almost untranslatable word which encompasses a combination of the soil, terrain and topography. 

Growing grapes requires well-drained soil which is rich in the minerals which give wine its flavour, and ideally gently undulating fields with a south-easterly aspect.

The third factor is more difficult to put your finger on: it is the passion and dedication that is the common thread running between all of our local winemakers. 

Although English vineyards can and do provide a living, you really do need to have a vocation to take it on.  Forget the rosé-tinted image of sitting in the sun waiting for the grapes to ripen; winemaking is serious hard work. 

If you haven’t lost the feeling in the tips of your fingers while pruning the vines in the middle of winter, you have no idea what is involved.

All of this was very evident last week when I paid a return visit to Chet Valley Vineyard in Bergh Apton, which was founded 13 years ago by John Hemmant, originally from a Norfolk farming family, but who had made his living in the city before returning to the county of his birth.

I first visited Chet Valley just before the first lockdown, and was keen to see what progress had been made in the intervening three years.  The answers is: lots. 

Production has more or less doubled during that time, and whilst lockdown robbed the vineyard of its at-the-gate sales and income from tours (the lifeblood of many English vineyards), like many local producers, Chet Valley used the enforced period of isolation to invest in growth.

Most striking was the machinery allowing the vineyard to make its own ‘Traditional Method’ sparking wine – the same method as used in Champagne.  There are other local vineyards which produce this kind of wine, but it is mainly sent out of the county to be actually made, because it is a tricky and costly process.

At the obligatory tasting (I make these sacrifices for you, dear readers), I can confirm that the results were spectacularly good.  Their ‘House of Hemmant’ range should have the Champenois worrying – it is every bit as good as our French friends are producing.

If you haven’t tried their wines, you should.  Like pretty much every local vineyard, Chet Valley offers tours and tastings, you can buy online, and their wines are increasingly stocked by independent retailers such as Jarrold.

The new Norwich Wine Week, which has so far signed up a number of the county’s top vineyards (including Chet Valley) to its flagship event, is a great opportunity to sample the great wines now being made in our county. 

I really hope that it catches the imagination of local quaffers – and most importantly, inspires them to add Norfolk wines to their regular wine orders on an ongoing basis.