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ProWein promises largest English wine producer presence yet
A symptom of the growth of the English wine industry is the expanded presence of English producers on the WineGB stand at ProWein, with this year’s fair set to have the biggest contingent so far.
In total, nine English wine brands will be exhibiting on the Wines of Great Britain stand in Hall 14 (Stand A50): Black Chalk (Hampshire), Bolney Wine Estate (West Sussex), Chapel Down (Kent), Gusbourne (Kent), Hattingley Valley (Hampshire), Ridgeview (East Sussex), Roebuck Estates (West Sussex), and, exhibiting at ProWein for the first time, Lyme Bay Winery (Devon) and Rathfinny Estate (East Sussex).
WineGB CEO Simon Thorpe commented: “The wine industry of Britain is thriving and engaging with an ever-growing crowd of followers and fans across the world as more and more trade buyers, influencers and consumers recognise the word-class credentials of our wines. We are delighted that there will be a larger presence at ProWein this year, providing an opportunity to showcase our wines and producers to an international trade audience”
For Rathfinny Estate, which recently celebrated Sussex Sparkling Wine being granted PDO status, going to ProWein is a symbol of growing ambitions for international markets, as sales manager Andy Gadd explained: “We are very much looking forward to ProWein 2023, our first in conjunction with Wine GB. We’ll be presenting our full range of 2018 vintage traditional method English Sparkling Wines. 2018 is widely regarding as the ‘Vintage of the Decade’ for English Sparkling and the wines are tasting incredibly well. 2022 was a year in which our export sales grew dramatically, we are now exporting to 8 international markets and are looking to expand that further.”
WineGB’s most recent sales report, based on data from 2021, has uncovered that there are 30 export markets for UK wines. That year, sparkling wine shipments leapt by a third. Scandinavian markets in particular are becoming among the most important for UK producers: Norway’s is the largest, growing by 85% in 2021.
Related reading: “Sussex will be synonymous with English sparkling wine”