The second wet summer in a row has failed to dampen spirits in Oxfordshire's vineyards.

With wine experts predicting that months of wet weather will take the fizz out of the British wine boom, there is no hint of sour grapes from local wine makers.

Local vineyards are facing a second year of disappointing yields. But they say they still hope autumn sunshine will deliver quality grapes in October.

Producers of Oxfordshire's sparkling wines reckon there may even be cause for celebration, once the corks of the 2009 Oxfordshire vintage start popping.

The gloomy summer looked to have confirmed the warnings of those who have continued to insist that growing vines is best left to the French and other countries with more suitable and reliable climates.

But vineyard owners like Carol and Bob Nielsen, of the Brightwell Vineyard, near Wallingford, were sounding remarkably chilled about the future of the English wine industry.

Mrs Nielsen said: "It isn't all doom and gloom. It's been a difficult year and you have to do what you can to keep your crop clean. The wet weather is very conducive to mildew.

"Yields will be down. In 2006 we picked 30 tonnes and this year I think we are looking at 20 tonnes. But the grapes are slowly ripening."

The Daily Telegraph this week reported that some wine experts were predicting that only the most established vineyards would survive back-to-back poor harvests.

Bob Lindo, chairman of the United Kingdom Vineyards Association, told the newspaper that a lot of vineyards that opened following the bumper years of 2004 and 2006 face testing times.

Steve Callaghan, who owns the Hendred Vineyard, in East Hendred, said: "It's never going to be fantastic all the time in the UK.

"Last year because of the heavy rain in July we were not able to produce grapes for our sparkling varieties. But it was a fantastic year for our other variety, Madeline Angevin.

"This year has been completely the reverse. The cold weather was not bad enough to impact on are sparkling varieties, Pinot Noir and Seyval Blanc. This year we will be looking to produce 5,000 to 6,000 bottles."

David Ealand, of Chiltern Valley Winery and Brewery, in Henley said: "We've been going here for 28 years. And this has been a year when you couldn't afford to make a mistake and needed to keep up with a spraying programme.

"In a way I think the recession is helping the industry, with people preferring to go for quality rather than quantity."