English wine is asking to be taken more seriously. Nyetimber vineyard in Sussex may not have made any wine in 2012 thanks to a disastrous growing season, after which the decision was taken not to pick one single grape, but it has been making up the lost ground ever since with a series of announcements that amount to statements of intent for the whole English wine industry.

In autumn, for example, it released a limited edition sparkling wine at an unprecedentedly high price for an English wine – there are only 2500 bottles of Nyetimber Tillington Single Vineyard 2009 and they cost a cool £75 each. Now it has announced that all bottles of its Classic Cuvée (the 2009 vintage is the latest release) will have a special code on the back label that allows drinkers to look up the bottling, riddling and disgorgement dates for their wine. I see this more as a stall-setting-out exercise than anything else.

Like energetic Bob Lindo’s application for Britain’s first Protected Designation of Origin for wine for his Darnibole Vineyard down in Cornwall, it’s a demand to be taken as seriously as any vineyard in a more established wine-growing region.