English and Welsh wine producers have particular reason to celebrate the New Year, following the announcement just before Christmas that extension to the EU wide planting ban will not apply to the UK. The EU Council has agreed to a permanent exclusion of the UK from the planting rights regime.
This planting restriction had been the greatest challenge to the continued development of the wine industry in the UK, which has been growing very successfully over many years. Under this EU planting ban, UK wine producers would have had to stop any further planting once production exceeded 3.3million bottles (25,000 hectolitres), averaged over 5 years. Although the EU Commission wanted to get rid of the planting restrictions, they were forced to compromise and extend the ban to 2015, in order to get other reforms through, which are designed to make EU production more competitive.
The Planting Ban was introduced in the EU in 1999 in response to the over production of poor quality wine in the larger member state producing countries which resulted in the infamous ‘wine lake’. The current EU Wine Reform, introduced by EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, aims to revive the languishing European wine industry. Meanwhile, the UK has been steadily producing more and more quality wine, especially within the sparkling wine sector, and demand from both domestic and overseas markets has never been higher. The UK’s representative industry body, the UK Vineyards Association (UKVA), therefore argued that capping the expansion of this vibrant industry, which is completely unsubsidised, would fly in the face of the new Common Agricultural Policy.
The UKVA has worked closely with Defra, the NFU and MEPs to lobby against the restrictions. Bob Lindo, Chairman of the UKVA Council said, “If you had told me at the beginning of our campaign that we would get virtually all of our demands in such a short time, then I wouldn’t have believed you. The House of Lords Select Committees were right ‘on side’ from the very beginning. Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat (and UKIP) MPs, MEPs and Peers all supported us and many others as a result of our media campaign.
“It shows what can be achieved when we all sing from the same hymn sheet, and we should never underestimate just what has been achieved.”
Mike Roberts of RidgeView Wine Estate, and one of the key members of the UKVA’s EU Wine Reform Working Group, commented: “Our recent and current rate of planting will yield a production of over 4 million bottles by 2012 - an increase of over 100% of our present production. Further expansion is planned for this and the next years and we foresee our production may well double again. The UK is producing and building a demand for what is now recognised as world-class and competitive wines, without any subsidy or market assistance from the EU. We have fulfilled the prime objective of the EU Commission’s wine reform - to have European countries produce what the consumer wants. The EU has acknowledged our efforts by exempting us from the planting ban.”
EU wine reform amendments have also lifted bans on unlisted grape varieties, as well as the listing of grape varieties and vintage on table wine labels. These reform measures have been put in place to increase the competitiveness of European wines in the face of stiff competition from New World producers.
The lifting of the ban shows the credibility that English and Welsh wines have built up and will encourage the continued development of the UK’s wine industry.
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