Taittinger begins quest to make champagne in Kent
Video report by ITV News Meridian's Juliette Fletcher
One of the most famous producers of champagne, Taittinger, will soon be making English bubbly in Kent.
The company has agreed a partnership with a wine producer in the county to produce 400,000 bottles of premium quality sparkling wine, with Taittinger's name on the label.
Wine producer Patrick McGrath bought 224 acres at Chilham as a fruit farm seven years ago with a radical plan.
He says he knew that the chalk soils and the location, low-lying, south facing, together with climate change, made this a sweet spot for the production of world-class sparkling wine.
Patrick says: "We wanted to choose the right area in the UK, and it was going to be Kent or Sussex, and we found this beautiful area of land in Chilham as the right place to plant the vines."
Leader of Ashford Borough Council, Cllr Gerry Clarkson says the historic Anglo French partnership here will brand this place 'the wine region of England'.
The hope is that the first bottles will be released in 2024 to rave reviews both sides of the Channel.