GB wine production dwarfs sales in 2023

The WineGB conference announced production and sales figures for 2023 that will take years to sell through.

In 2023, the UK wine industry produced the equivalent of 24 million bottles of wine. But with sales of 7-8 million bottles a year, this year's bumper harvest will take some time to be sold.

According to WineGB, the UK now supplies 5% of all sparkling wine consumed in the UK. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Barclay challenged the industry to replace the £4.2 billion in annual wine imports with British made wine.

He also announced the Government has set aside £1.5 million to grant a new Future Winemakers Scheme for education to open new career paths and support the sector in creating new jobs. The new funding package will go towards delivering new courses at Plumpton College.

WineGB has been hoping that export sales would absorb some of the extra wines. The UK currently exports 7% of all production, with Norway being the largest export market. WineGB has a goal of exports reaching between 25-30% of production by 2030. To achieve this exports will have to grow by around 30% year on year for the next 5 years.