Welsh wine expert joins elite group of just 420 worldwide

Abby Neve

A Welsh wine expert has become only the second person from Wales to achieve the prestigious Master of Wine qualification.

Owain Hughes is now one of just 420 Masters of Wine worldwide after completing a demanding series of practical and theoretical examinations covering wine tasting, viticulture, winemaking, quality control and contemporary issues.

His interest in wine began partly through an uncle who moved to California to become a winemaker, before developing further when Mr Hughes moved to Bristol for university and became interested in the city’s wine culture.

He later studied for qualifications with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and went on to undertake a winemaking apprenticeship in Burgundy.

Mr Hughes said one of the things he loves about wine is its ability to reflect the identity of the place where it was produced.

He said: “You can have wines from plots of land that are right next to each other, and they might taste noticeably different. It really reflects where it comes from.”

He said that although progress had been made in recent years, the Welsh wine industry was still “finding its feet”.

“It’s developing quite a bit. Production is relatively small at the moment, but it’s increasing quickly. Producers are getting better at matching specific grape varieties to the land, so it’s becoming really interesting.

“It will be very interesting to see how subregional identity develops in Wales as the land under vine increases and site-variety matching becomes more fine-tuned.”

Mr Hughes also spoke about the impact climate change is having on wine production in Wales.

He said: “It’s an interesting kind of conflict. With gradual warming you do get riper grapes in Wales, and in the UK generally, and often lower acidity – historically the problems have been under-ripeness and balancing high acidity.

“But it isn’t all in one direction: the seasons are more variable, wet years bring serious disease pressure, and frost is still a real risk.”

He said changing weather patterns could also bring extreme events capable of severely damaging vineyards.

“In many regions – Burgundy, for example – you get these extreme weather events, with more damaging instances of hail. That can wipe out a whole crop very, very quickly, as well as affect the following year’s.”

Consultancy

Mr Hughes is currently developing a wine consultancy focused on market intelligence in the industry.

His favourite wine is red Burgundy, while he is also a fan of Barolo and Riesling. Among Welsh wines, he particularly enjoys sparkling wines produced by Ancre Hill in Monmouthshire.

He said: “Ancre Hill has been making wine in Monmouthshire since the 2000s, and their biodynamic sparkling wines in particular have been well recognised for years.”

---

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.