The United Kingdom might be Europe’s next prestige wine region.

The UK’s wine industry is experiencing significant growth amid warming temperatures and easing regulations.

When you think of European wine regions, names like Champagne and Burgundy in France or Italy’s Tuscany likely come to mind. Or, maybe you think of a famed Spanish region like Rioja.

Chances are, English wine doesn’t come top of mind. But recent government reforms and uncharacteristically warm temperatures have the potential to move the United Kingdom’s wine industry to the forefront of the European market.

Can regulatory reforms foster growth?

Set to take effect this year, the UK government recently launched a series of new reforms to support the growing domestic wine industry. These include measures that ease complicated import and packaging requirements, give growers more freedom to choose hybrid grape varieties, and more.

Winemakers will likely welcome these reforms, which address industry concerns about inefficient regulations that stall innovation. And, the timing of these reforms couldn’t be more opportune for the UK’s wine market.

Could climate change lead to a changing of the guard?

While environmental changes have wreaked havoc on vineyards in other European countries like France and Italy, the effects of climate change have surprisingly boosted UK wine production.

Warmer temperatures and rainfall have created the ideal conditions for growing wine in certain UK regions. For example, recent research estimated that by 2050, more than one-fifth of the UK will have the right weather conditions to grow Chardonnay grapes for still wines.

“Just because a region has a suitable climate, it doesn’t mean that it has the right sort of land for growing vines,” lead researcher Alex Biss said. “But the fact remains that climate change will very likely bring a further expansion of viticulture in the UK.”

This expansion could already be underway. Over the past five years, UK wine producers increased the total land under vine by 74 percent; viticulture became the UK’s fastest-growing agricultural sector last year; and today, there are more than 900 vineyards across the UK–an 80 percent increase in just six years.

A growing industry.

The idea of the UK becoming home to some of Europe’s finest wine regions doesn’t seem as unlikely as it once did, but there is still a way to go before dethroning the likes of Portugal or Italy. Ironically, the unpredictability of climate change is also a hurdle for the UK’s wine industry, highlighting the need to create strategies that can future-proof its growth.

Still, with government reforms and favorable production conditions, the UK is ripe to emerge as a major player in Europe’s wine market–and globally. As temperatures shift, so will the industry, and it is encouraging to witness the ingenuity of UK winemakers amidst these changes.

Time will only tell if wine regions in the UK will grow to compete with Europe’s more notable regions, but for now, I raise a glass to the possibilities.

Danilo Diazgranados is an independent investor in the global food and wine, financial services, real estate, and the hospitality sectors.