Winemakers in England and Wales are expected to see volumes drop significantly this year amid poor weather conditions, according to a new survey from WineGB.
Preliminary figures from the trade body’s ‘Harvest Yield Survey 2024’ show volumes for this year’s harvest are expected to sit between six and seven million bottles.
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This represent roughly a 70% decrease on last year’s 21.6 million bottles, which was “the largest harvest achieved in the UK”, according to WineGB.
The estimated harvest volumes are also represent 30-40% slump on the ten-year production average of 10 million bottles.
Despite a dip in volumes, driven by tough weather conditions and consistent rainfall, “resulting in higher disease pressure”, the high performance in 2023 is expected to alleviate lower production levels in 2024.
According to WineGB’s survey, roughly 70% of winemakers said they had lost crops due to diseases this year including mildew and botrytis. Some 48% also saw bird damage to crops. Most producers reported that they delayed the start of their harvest to October.
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By GlobalDataEven with lower volumes this year, the trade body said a mixture of “assiduous vineyard management and selective picking” produced a smaller but better quality harvest, with grapes having greater “phenolic ripeness” (when grapes have ripened enough to lose their bitter flavour), due to a longer than usual harvest.
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Bacchus were the most planted varieties during the year.
In a statement, WineGB CEO Nicola Bates said: “In a tough year, producers have shown huge resilience and expertise in harvesting a small, but high-quality crop. While overall yields are down this year, stock levels are high and there remains consistency in the supply of wine for sale. This year is both a reminder of the unpredictability of British weather and the skill of our workforce, which is well-versed in dealing with our variable climate.”
Some winegrowers in GB however struggled to harvest any vines this year, the trade body said.
Vintners in East Sussex, Kent, Surrey and West Sussex in the South East of England booked the highest average yield. They were followed by producers in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and in the east of the country in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire.
Harvest report author Stephen Skelton MW added that while 2024 had been “challenging”, the report demonstrated “that our four major varieties – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier, and Bacchus – can produce good yields, even in testing years.”
