2023 a 'near perfect year' for British Wine
A report from Wine GB has reported the UK’s harvest in 2023 as the nation's 'largest ever' with the number of bottles produced set to eclipse the previous record, set in 2018, by over 50 per cent.
Dubbed the 'miracle harvest', the productivity of this year has set up British wine companies to produce 20-22 million bottles. For scope, the previous record year, 2018, saw 13.1 million bottles made by British Wineries.
The years bountiful harvest came despite the summer's lacklustre temperatures, with the warmth in September and earlier in the year really boosting productivity.
In total, 30,000 tonnes of grapes were harvested across vineyards in England and Wales in 2023.
Vineyard hectarage now in full production reached some 3,230 hectares, up 151% from the 2,138 hectares in production in 2018.
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The author of the Wine GB report, Stephen Skelton, said: “The excellent yields are attributed to not only the near perfect weather for grapes at key times of the growing season, but also comes on the back of more hectares than ever before coming into production''.
Chardonnay, pinot noir, meunier and bacchus varieties performed exceptionally well this year. The four varieties had an average yield of 10 tonnes per hectare across all vineyards, and 15.9 tonnes per hectare in the top 25 per cent of vineyards.
WineGB CEO, Nicola Bates, said: “There was a silver lining to our miserable summer, and that is a fantastic season for wine.
“UK consumers are drinking more and more home produce and at the same time exports are going up, especially in Scandinavia and Japan. We look forward to having more wine to present to our growing consumer base.”
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