Wine from the United Kingdom Normans, with over 40 vineyards in England mentioned in the Domesday Book, although much of what was being produced was for making communion wine for the Eucharist. From the Middle Ages, the English market was the main customer of clarets from Bordeaux, France, helped by the Plantagenet kingdom, which included England and large provinces in France. In the 18th century, the Methuen Treaty of 1703 imposed high duties on French wine. This led to the English becoming a main consumer of sweet fortified wines like sherry, port wine, and Madeira wine from Spain and Portugal. Fortified wine became popular because
Bordeaux wine regions Garonne river and contains the sub regions of Pessac-Léognan, Sauternes and Barsac. It is known for its intensely gravelly soil. The soil is the result glaciers from the Ice Age which also left white quartz deposits that can still be found in the soil of some of the top wine making estates. While Château Haut-Brion was included in the 1855 classification of the Médoc, the Graves appellation itself was classified in 1953 for its red wine producers. White wine were included in an updated 1959 classification. The Graves is considered the birthplace of claret. In the Middle Ages, the wines