'Vines to Wines' at Fruit Focus 2010

Viticulturalists representing the vigorous and maturing UK wine industry will converge on Kent for Vines to Wines at Fruit Focus, the technical exhibition dedicated to our domestic wine industry, to be held on Wednesday 21st July at East Malling.  As well as soft and orchard fruit, vines also feature at Fruit Focus.

The ‘Vines to Wines’ area of the show is now in its third year and it is the first business to business technical event for the viticulture industry in the UK.

“’Vines to Wines’ brings together all those involved in the growing, production, distribution and sales of still and sparkling wine in the UK,” says event organiser Jon Day of Haymarket.

In partnership with the United Kingdom Vineyards Association and English Wine Producers, it stimulates, encourages and explores the latest technical developments and business opportunities for wine production, showcasing every aspect. The exhibitors will showcase the following products, advice and services:

• New grape varieties
• Crop protection
• Fertilisers and nutrition
• Viticulture equipment
• Vineyard management
• Winemaking and wine quality
• Product development
• Winery design
• Sales and marketing

There will also be two dedicated seminars for visitors interested in the vines and wines content of the event. At 1pm, Frazer Thompson, Managing Director of Chapel Down Wines (English Wine Group plc) will talk about the future of English sparkling wine. He will debate what place does English sparkling wine have in the UK market now that the volume is overtaking still wines. Frazer became Managing Director of English Wines in November 2001 after an extensive career in the drinks industry for brands including Boddingtons, Stella and Heineken. Since he joined the English Wine Group he has been one of the driving forces that has raised the profile of English wine to such an extent that demand now vastly exceeds supply (a complete reversal of fortune), and trebled value sales.

At 2pm there will be a ‘Vines to Wines’ Question time for visitors. The panel will be made up of Frazer Thompson who will stay on from the previous seminar, consultant Owen Elias and viticulture advisor Duncan McNeill. Duncan started working in viticulture in New Zealand in 2001. He studied viticulture at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Hawkes Bay, and worked as a Vineyard Manager in Central Otago until the early 2005. He also worked for a 12Ha family run winery estate in the Pfalz region in southern Germany and returned to England in Feb 2006 as the manager of New Hall Vineyards in Essex where he oversaw the planting of 80 acres of new vines, bringing the total planted area up to 180 acres.

Commenting on the UK wine industry, Julia Trustram Eve of English Wine Producers said: “we are at a very exciting stage in our industry with new vineyards being planted, some now coming into production so that we will see higher volumes being produced each year and therefore more coming on the to the market.”

“The skill within our wine growing and winemaking community is highly competitive, with new talent in the industry too. Over the next few years there is a lot of up-skilling and new training being introduced, to ensure that the standards of our growing and winemaking remain high which is of course translating in to high quality wines for now and the future.”

The year on year growth in vine planting continues according to data supplied by Wine Standards Branch, Food Standards Agency collected after the 2009 harvest. The figures show 1,215 hectares now under vine in the UK. However, research shows that current hectares planted are probably nearer 1,350-1,400. This is the highest ever recorded in the UK and represents an increase in plantings of over 50% in the last five years.

Vineyards are also showing a year on year increase in number with 381 and 109 wineries planted across more than 3,000 acres. The average production is 2. 2million bottles a year based over a five-year average from 2005 –2009.

Sparkling wine accounted for 45% of the 2009 harvest (still white 43% and red/Rose 12%) and is set to become the largest sector of production as most new plantings are for sparkling wine. As a result, the grape varieties Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (the three are the varieties that produce Champagne) account for 40% of the total planted varietals.

“Our greatest - and growing - asset is the high quality sparkling wine produced,” said Ms Trustram Eve. “We know from plantings, over the last five years that sparkling wine becoming releasable in 2012 will be in excess of three million bottles and by 2015 five million, which accounts for 1/8th of the volume of Champagne imports. This will give the industry retail sales value of nearly £100 million.”

In the last eight years England has won trophies for the world’s top sparkling wine four times – an achievement not match by any other country. By 2012 the sales of English sparkling wine will be more than the 2009 forecast of the total imports of sparkling wine from USA, New Zealand, Chile, South Africa and Argentina added together. And by 2015 sparkling wine sales will equate to more than 70% of imports of Australian sparkling wine.

“This means that our total wine production will rise from three million bottles this year to seven million bottles,” said Ms Trustram Eve.

Tickets for Fruit Focus are available free of charge by registering through the event website at www.fruitfocus.co.uk. 

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Contact for more information:
Jane Craigie
Tel: 01466 780078
Mob: 07795 278767
Email: jane@janecraigie.com

Notes to Editors
Fruit Focus 2010:
• Fruit Focus takes place on 21stJuly 2010, at East Malling, Kent.  Opening times are 9am – 4pm.
• Show features include leading suppliers’ stands, crop plots, a live demonstration area, the  NFU and Syngenta Bioline Fruit Forums, fruit research farm tours and the Vines to Wine exhibition and seminar programme
• Key sponsors are the NFU, Berry Gardens and Syngenta Bioline
• Fresh Produce Journal is the event media partner
• Fruit Focus is organised and presented by Haymarket Business Exhibitions and supported by Horticulture Week/Grower
• Fruit Focus is registered for BASIS and NRoSO CPD points.  Point allocation is:
       o 3 NRoSO CPD points.
       o 3 BASIS points. Points allocation: 1 x crop protection, 1 x environment, 1 x application
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