Japanese wine connoisseurs are gaining a taste for traditional English tipples made in an idyllic 17th Century country barn.

While most Britons are happy with cheap and cheerful wines imported from Australia or South America, English drinks such as mead, made from fermented honey, are gaining popularity across the globe.

Trade is booming at Lurgashall Winery, near Petworth, which makes 450,000 bottles of various fruit wines every year and is leading an export drive to Japan, Sweden, Malta and the USA.

Founder Jerome Schooler said Lurgashall was careful to stick to traditional wine-making techniques but used modern marketing and export systems.

He said: "The export market is important to us and we've put a lot of time into it. It's taken three years to develop Japan but it's working out well.

"We sell via the internet, through mail order and to Japanese people travelling on British Airways flights."

Lurgashall already has distribution and retail networks in 40 states in the USA, its largest overseas market, where the cache of serving a British wine is a big selling factor.

Mr Schooler said the same went for Japan.

He said: "I've asked Japanese people why they don't buy American wines and they say they don't want to because it's a young country. A lot of people around the world really like the British."

He said the unique selling points of making a high-quality traditional product with a high fruit content helped the winery overcome the handicap of a strong pound.

He said: "There are 24 countries that can import wine into the UK and at some point each one of them has a low currency compared to sterling.

"That means there are some very fine wines that can be picked up in a supermarket for £3.99. If we are to compete we have to offer something extra.

"We can dispatch orders the next day, using labels designed by the buyer so our technology is giving us an edge. At the same time we have a very traditional image."

Mr Schooler hopes to increase exports from ten per cent of total sales to 40 per cent.

Monday, May 8, 2006