For this inaugural edition, renowned wine writer Henry Jeffreys has written a new brief history of England’s transition from a global wine merchant to a wine region of scale for the first time. This traces England’s rise from - in Jeffreys’ words – “a viticultural backwater to probably the best place in the world to make sparkling wine”.

About the Author: Henry Jeffreys worked in the wine trade and publishing before becoming a writer. He’s a contributor to Good Food, the Guardian, Harpers Wine & Spirit, and Spectator, wine columnist for The Critic magazine, and has appeared on radio, TV and ‘The Rest is History’ podcast. He won Fortnum & Mason Drink Writer of the Year in 2022 and is the author of four books including Empire of Booze and Vines in a Cold Climate, which was shortlisted for the James Beard awards and won Fortnum & Mason drink book of the year. Along with Tom Parker Bowles, Henry hosts the Intoxicating History podcast. He lives in Faversham, Kent with his wife and two daughters.