Subscriber login Close [x]
remember me
You are not logged in.

Calls for a united body to promote UK wine producers

Published:  29 May, 2015

English wine producers are calling for a new promotional body to represent producers and growers amid swelling consumer interest.

English wine producers are calling for a new promotional body to represent producers and growers amid swelling consumer interest. 

Sam Lindo, chairman of the United Kingdom Vineyards Association wants the organisation to merge with the English Wine Producers to create a new group charged with issues including lobbying, taxation, funding and exports. 

He told Harpers.co.uk: "A professional organisation is required to deal with the huge growth in production [in the UK]. 

"This month there will be 2,000 hectares of vines planted in the UK, which should generate 12 million of bottles of wines in the future. The increase in production means we need a single coordinated approach."

Currently, the remit of the EWP is marketing and it represents 25 commercial producers who between them make 80% of the country's wine. Those companies are also signed-up to the UKVA, which has 450 members who are producers, only a small minority of which are operating on a commercial scale. 

Camel Valley

Mark Driver, owner of the Rathfinny Estate in Alfriston, East Sussex, said: "I am very much in favour of a single organisation which would speak for the whole industry. It is important to have a single organisation which represents all producers and growers in the country."

Another producer added: "The EWP, the marketing arm of the English wine industry, is increasingly gaining prominence, but UKVA remains the body which talks to the government, so this situation has to be resolved."

The EWP said wine production in the UK increased 42% to 6.3million in 2014 and marketing director Julia Trustram Eve said she welcomed discussions on moves to create a single UK wine industry body.

She said: "We are neither for or against it. It is great that we are having these discussions, which are a reflection of our growing industry."

Although a new name for new organisation has not been officially discussed, it will have to include a reference to Welsh producers, who claim they have been left in the shadows, as English wine gains worldwide recognition.

Keywords: