'There were some serious vineyards in England a few centuries ago. Now its too cold to grow good grapes there.'
Where did you hear that pile of crap?
There are more than 150 commercial vineyards in the UK - the one at the end of my garden has been producing wine continuously since the vines were first planted by the Romans some 1800 years ago!
Click on the map to learn:
http://www.englishwineproducers.com/vineyardregional.htm
There are some pretty good ones as well, Ridgeview Merret Bloomsbury 2002 beat wines from 55 countries to be awarded best sparkling wine.
http://www.decanter.com/news/65362.html
i do hate to let fact get in the way of peoples stereotypes though! :D