All of a sudden English wine is the hot topic, and global warming is only partly to blame. Not that you'd know it from last month's weather, but then, according to the Law of Sod, if it's the first day of Lord's, play will be curtailed by rain. The same drizzle descended when I popped in to Richard Balfour-Lynn's vineyard, Hush Heath (pictured below) in the Weald of Kent, playing into the hands of the 24 per cent of sceptics recently polled by Yahoo! who think that it's too rainy and cold to produce good quality wine in England.

As the 2004 Balfour Brut Rosé was being poured at Lord's, I was being given a guided tour of its vineyards, followed by a taste at Balfour-Lynn's 16th-century Tudor manor, which sits in 400 acres of apple orchard, oak woodland and fields. There may be something in the received wisdom that our climate is on the cool side for table wine, but it's a different story when it comes to fizz. Champagne, after all, needs cool climatic conditions. "I am convinced we have a real edge over the New World in our potential for making world-class wines," says Balfour-Lynn. "Our summer temperatures have risen by 1.5 degrees in the past 20 years, we have identical soil to Champagne, and our winemaking has improved significantly."

And Balfour-Lynn is not alone is his conviction that English sparkling wine will become a world-beater. Currently, the English and Welsh wine industry, with 102 wineries and 2,280 acres under vine, is experiencing a steady increase in planting of vineyards, primarily chardonnay and pinot noir, for sparkling wine production. In next to no time, Nyetimber and Ridgeview in West Sussex have become well-known for their exceptional fizz, and Kent's Chapel Down and Camel Valley in Cornwall are bubbling under. In a rush to beat the champenois at their own game, others tapping into these ideal conditions include the wine writer Steven Spurrier, who's linking up with champagne house Duval-Leroy in Dorset, Nigel and Mary Riddle at Wootton Fitzpaine, also in Dorset, Andrew Weeber with 45 acres in Kent and other new sparkling wine projects at Westerham, Worthing and Newport Pagnell.

Balfour-Lynn had long cherished an ambition to make wine. When he took over Hush Heath Estate in 2001, he hired the wine consultant Stephen Skelton MW to help him plant four acres of the classic champagne grapes, chardonnay, pinot noir and meunier. The first commercial vintage, 2004, was made by winemaker Owen Elias at neighbouring Chapel Down Vineyards (in which Balfour-Lynn has a stake). According to Skelton, the cost of planting, processing and holding stock can be as much as £75,000-£80,000 an acre. While it's a capital-intensive business, Balfour-Lynn thinks the challenge is as much in the brand and how it's sold. Keen to move English wine forward, he was influenced by the success of New Zealand's Cloudy Bay. " I wanted to specialise, to make a fun sparkling wine that's young, fresh and ivory pink. The Cloudy Bay model was effective in creating an exclusivity and approached the market with a high degree of confidence."

Balfour-Lynn concluded that for the product to be taken seriously, he'd have to price his pink fizz at a similar price to Laurent-Perrier Rosé champagne. "Everyone goes 'Gasp!' – it's not what English wine is about [it costs £29.99], but I say forget English wine, I'm going to be international and exclusive and I'm not going to apologise." Like a number of English sparkling wines recently awarded medals, its quality has already been recognised with a silver medal in the 2006 UK Vineyards Association's Wine of the Year Competition, and it's on the list at The Ivy, Le Caprice and J. Sheekey. In time, Balfour-Lynn aims to build a winery, plant more vineyards and source grapes from local fruit growers. But, as chief executive of the successful Malmaison and Hotel du Vin group, he's aware that an English brand isn't going to be built in a day. "It's hard work, but it's early days, so it would be arrogant to say we're succeeding, but there's a real interest in a good quality English product." Another career to help pave the way is a bonus, and I don't see him giving up the day job quite yet.

2006 Camel Valley Bacchus

The aromatic, Loire-like Bacchus from Bob Lindo's Bodmin vineyard in Cornwall comes sealed with a screwcap, adding zip to this distinctive, dry English white.

£17.95 (less 10 per cent for 12) from the cellar door, www.camelvalley.com, Wadebridge Wines (01208 812692), Wine In Cornwall (01326 379426)

2001 Chapel Down Pinot Reserve

This Kent fizz from the winemaker Owen Elias displays a fine aromatic intensity: red berry fruits combine with a creamy, champagne-like mousse on the palate and a rapier-like blade of crisp acidity.

£24.99, Fortnums, Averys

2006 Chapel Down English Rosé

This pink table wine blends a fruit salad of obscure English grapes such as Rondo and Regent with some pinot noir to make a fragrant summer pudding-style rosé with a juicy cranberry zing.

Around £8.99, Waitrose, Selfridges, Booths

2005 Chapel Down Bacchus

The bacchus grape is England's answer to sauvignon blanc, often producing refreshingly aromatic dry whites with sancerre-like gooseberry undertones and, as here, a touch of nettle and hedgerow with grapefruit acidity to keep you on your toes.

Around £9.99, Booths, Waitrose, Selfridges

Chapel Down Flint Dry

A lot of Flint Dry gets poured down a lot of throats in summer, because it's a classic example of a dry English white, a blend of English grapes with elderflower characters, hedgerow fruits and a grapefruity zestiness to keep the wine lively and refreshing.

£6.99, Waitrose, Booths, Fortnums

2003 Denbies Wine Estate Greenfields

Thanks to a long hot summer, this vintage from England's biggest wine producer at Dorking struck gold at this year's International Wine Challenge for its opulent, honeycomb flavours; not surprisingly it sold out. Let's hope the follow-on vintage is equally stylish.

£21.99, Denbies Wine Estate, Dorking, Surrey, 01306 734652 / 876616, www.denbies.co.uk

2005 Camel Valley Cornwall Brut

Bob Lindo's vineyard is winning plaudits for its fizz, like this recent silver-medal- winning blend of seyval blanc and reichensteiner, which, with its creamy texture and rich flavour, shows that chardonnay and pinot noir don't have it all their own way.

£17.95 (less 10 per cent for 12) from the cellar door, www.camelvalley.com, selected Waitrose, Castang Wines (01503 220359), Great Western Wine (01225 322810)

2004 Balfour Brut Rosé

The most exclusive English fizz on the market, this Kent sparkler from Richard Balfour-Lynn's Hush Heath Estate (see main text) has a delicate onion-skin blush with fresh fragrance, tiny pinprick bubbles and a delicately dry, raspberryish flavour with a crisp, appley bite.

£29.99, Hush Heath Estate, www.hushheath.co.uk, coming soon to www.tesco.com