PRESS RELEASE

11 March 2019

Some of England’s leading wine producers are returning to ProWein (Sunday 17 – Tuesday 19 March), ready to put a spotlight on some of the UK’s top-quality wines and welcome trade visitors from around the world.

Five producers will be exhibiting together on the WineGB stand (Hall 13 Stand C47); four are past exhibitors: Bolney Wine Estate, Gusbourne, Hattingley Valley and Ridgeview. They will be joined by first time exhibitor, sparkling wine producer Black Chalk Wines.

The Wines of Great Britain stand will be in Hall 13 alongside other European regions including Germany. Strengthening the English wine presence at the Show will be Nyetimber on the adjoining stand (B48). Both stands have been built in collaboration with International Trade Shows Limited and with the support of the UK Government’s Department of International Trade (DIT). Other English wine producers include Exton Park (Hall 16 G19).

The UK producers’ presence at ProWein comes at a time when exports of UK wines are growing significantly. Last year exports doubled over those in 2017. The number of export markets has grown by 48% in just two years, from 27 in 2016 to 40 last year.

The key export markets for English wine are USA and Scandinavia, including Denmark. In the industry recent survey, these two sectors account for 65% of all exports. The WineGB stand has signed up to ProWein’s ‘Route USA’ this year and look forward to connecting more buyers.

WineGB is preparing for continued growth in exports as more producers start to sell overseas, predicting that in the next 20 years exports may account for 30-40% of the total wine produced in Great Britain, yielding a potential value of some £350m per annum. Recognising the future importance of this sector, the industry has formed an Export Working Group made up of producers, advisers and suppliers, led by Samantha Linter, MD of Bolney Wine Estate. Supporting future and current exporters is their focus, from providing essential advice to newcomers including a mentoring scheme, podcasts and essential startup information, as well as working on a collective strategy to promote the wines of Great Britain overseas.

“Collaboration is key,” comments Sam Linter. “We are a small fish in a very big ocean, but we know that there is huge potential to drive greater sales overseas.

“We are fortunate in having such high quality and competitive wines that are capturing the interest around the world,” she adds. “Our activity overseas also helps to promote a thriving and growing wine tourism offering in the UK. We therefore know that in the long-term our exports will yield much more revenue than just wine sales.”

The UK wine industry is experiencing exponential growth, with year on year increase in vine plantings and seeing the best year of production on record last year – 2018 yielded some 15.6m bottles – beating the previous highest record in 2014 of 6.3m bottles by over 147%. Predictions are that by 2040, annual production will be 40m bottles.

The Chairman of Wines of Great Britain and Hattingley Valley Wines, Simon Robinson, commented: “Wine production and tourism in the UK are now thriving and confident British businesses in which we can be justifiably proud. The UK wine trade and consumers are embracing our wines, and now we are expanding our sales across the globe. We are looking forward to a great future.”

There will be an informal reception on the stand on Monday evening (18 March) from 5.30pm – 7.00pm supported by DIT, offering the opportunity to meet and network with the producers and members of WineGB