How English wine went from a joke to sales of 6m bottles a year

There used to be a joke popular among English wine producers: “How do you make a small fortune? Start with a large fortune and then open a vineyard.” But if that was once painfully accurate, the burgeoning industry now appears to be on a roll. After years as the butt of cruel jokes because of its questionable sweet taste, and thanks perhaps to temperatures raised by global warming, quality has improved in leaps and bounds and sales volumes have soared.