wines of GB

English and Welsh wine sales up 70% in 2019

09 September, 2020

Wines of Great Britain has announced strong positive growth in sales with an estimated 5.5m bottles of English and Welsh wines sold in 2019, up 70% on the previous year.

Exports accounted for 10% of sales and in volume terms exports doubled in on 2018 with Scandinavia and the US leading the way.

In 2019, 3.2m vines were planted planted in total and since 2000 hectarage has quadrupled in England and Wales.

Full time employment figures were also up nearly 40% in just a year and WineGB works closely with Plumpton College, the leading training provider of skills in this sector.

“This report shows 2019 as another positive year for this industry which reinforces our confidence in the future,”  said Simon Robinson, chair of WineGB.

“The UK is now well established as a producer of wines of the highest quality and our continuing commitment to improving our wines has lead us to establish a sustainable wine programme which is entirely in line with what our consumers tell us they want.

“We obviously cannot overlook the seismic changes everyone has experienced this year due to COVID-19, which will no doubt be reflected in our next industry report.

“This year has inevitably brought serious setbacks, but the industry has reacted nimbly to address the issues and as a result we have also seen significant developments in direct to consumer sales and increased growth through the UK retail sector; we therefore remain broadly positive for the future.”

Keywords: wines of GB




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