Wine enthusiasts flocked to the college for last weekend's festival (Sept 2 & 3) opened by well-known Sky television weather forecaster Hazel Murray. Although Hazel predicted a few showers on Saturday afternoon, organisers were delighted that the sun shone for the rest of the event.

Hazel and her husband own what they believe is the only working vineyard in central London. Recently the couple celebrated the culmination of three years of hard work at Clock Tower Vineyard - set on two allotments in Isleworth - when they produced their first bottles of Year 2000 wine.

"I know the blood, sweat and tears that goes into making wine," said Hazel as she opened the festival. "The English wine industry has come on in leaps and bounds in the last few years and it is down to a few people who were brave enough to buck the trend and go out and buy English wine when nobody else had heard of it.

"The success of the industry is down to the commitment, passion and sheer hard work of a little band of growers that are mad enough to take on the vagaries of the British weather!" - Perhaps Hazel's new wine should be called Cloudy Day?

More than 20 vineyards, with over 100 wines for tasting, went to the two day festival and they were joined by English food producers.

On Saturday morning the team of judges picked this year's winners. For the second year running Chapel Down Wines, from Tenterden in Kent, carried off the top award for the Wine of the Show. This year they won with their Millennium Brut 2000. This happened after an earlier setback when chief judge Charles Metcalfe knocked over the tasting sample bottle, all wrapped up in its aluminioum foil jacket so we couldn't see what it was. A replacement bottle was soon rushed into place in the lineup.

Denbies Wine Estate, from Surrey, also dominated the list of prizewinners and scooped two firsts, a second and highly commended. They won first prize in the dry white class with their Cooper's Bridge Chardonnay, and another first in the off dry class with the ever popular Surrey Gold. Both these wines are packaged in Denbies new livery, designed to appeal to the supermarket purchaser of wines.

Chairman of the judges Charles Metcalfe enthused about the line up of wines to taste: "English wine is finally settling down with a style of its own and we are really good at producing dry whites and sparkling wines. We also have some very good rosés and reds, especially when you consider our climate."

Sky News wine man Martyn Doubleday hosted wine stages on both days and the entertainment also included the ever popular live jazz and grape treading. For the second year running the neighbouring church hosted a flower festival.

Last year, the festival host Plumpton College, which is nationally recognised as running the UK's leading full-time course for the study of viticulture, took over the prestigious festival that was originally launched by Christopher Ann at the English Wine Centre at Alfriston.

Christopher was delighted with the successful development of the festival at Plumpton College. "The college is at the forefront of wine studies in this country and its rural backdrop provides a wonderful setting for the event, which is continuing to go from strength to strength as the showcase for English wine".