Sustainability is the watchword at WineGB Conference

Finally able to run as a live event following the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions of recent years, the annual WineGB conference took place on Monday 6th March 2023 at Denbies Wine Estate. Fruit & Vine editor Rachel Hicks attended

The conference programme brought all angles of the industry together, with a wide range of topics covering viticulture, winemaking and business/marketing. A highlight for many was an inspirational talk from Jancis Robinson MW OBE, who spoke during the morning plenary session.

WineGB CEO, Simon Thorpe MW (pictured above), referred to Jancis as being “the preeminent commentator on our industry globally”.

Jancis began by thanking the audience for creating a brilliant wine business that “us Brits” can be so proud of.

For Jancis, the most depressing trend is the shrinking of the wine market globally. She commented that there are now so many alternatives to wine – cocktails, craft beer, gin and even abstinence – it’s important for producers to be aware of the many downward pressures on the total wine market, so they are prepared to work even harder for their sales.

Jancis pointed out that there is, of course, the trend for “less but better”, which goes hand-in-hand with a certain trend towards premiumisation; but said that at the other end of the scale there are those for whom wine drinking is becoming just too expensive. The gap is widening between those people who have a lot of money and people who have far too little, and when discussing ridiculous ‘trophy’ wines, Jancis commented: “I always say that billionaires need ‘billionaire’s wines’ that have such signi cant caché that billionaires won’t count the cost of them.”

While she doesn’t believe English wine is in the billionaire’s trophy basket quite yet, Jancis reckons there are signs that some producers would like that to be the case, which she feels is another interesting trend.

She explained that it is impossible to overemphasise the importance of social media. While she noted the number of “younger” people in the room, Jancis commented that arguably we need “even younger people” to develop social media presence – saying Instagram is a “foreign land” still to many in the industry, which she feels is dangerous as digital platforms are the direction things are going. She pointed out that consumers want engagement – stories, not ads. She implored attendees to talk to the younger people within their organisations, about how social media presence can be developed and capitalise on their knowledge and enthusiasm.

Sustainability formed a key part of Jancis’ talk. She commented that we cannot ignore climate change, saying: “So far, our country has been one of its bene ciaries – who would have thought we’d be talking about drought, wild res and great cracks in our clay soils. But we may not be able to rely on an in nite resource of water. On the other hand, we are not yet in the eye of the storm.”

Jancis explained that these weather events are having a huge impact on the shape of the wine world, showing a shift towards the poles – with Scandinavian countries now having ourishing wine industries.

Sustainability, she said, is so important for our planet, as we are currently in survival mode and the move towards regenerative viticulture is clear.

Biodiversity is another buzzword, and although many English vineyards will have been planted relatively recently and su er less from the ‘mono culture’ that we see elsewhere in the world, biodiversity is very much a pillar of regenerative viticulture and something to bear in mind when deciding what to plant.

Grazing livestock – potentially including pigs and goats, not just sheep – is something Jancis deems worth considering and she said it will also add towards the grower’s tourist attraction.

In terms of sustainability in the winery, Jancis referred to carbon capture – commenting that it’s crazy how the world’s wine industry is releasing all this carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every time wine ferments. Certain wineries are now being designed which capture carbon and she feels there will be moves towards that.

At a tasting of biodynamic wines recently, Jancis said she was amused to try a wine from a producer in Bordeaux which was made from all the lees and sediment from his 2021 vintage, aged under oor in bre glass; and he’s selling it successfully for £68 per bottle, which struck Jancis as a very sustainable proposition. The producer had ironically named the wine “Lies” (the French word for lees) although Jancis was keen to point out it is pronounced the same as lees!

On the subject of sustainability, a bee in Jancis’ bonnet is packaging. She explained that on jancisrobinson.com, whenever they are tasting a wine at home, they weigh the empty bottle and publish the bottle weight – because they like to congratulate wine producers who are using lighter weight bottles, and highlight those who are still using unnecessarily heavy bottles. The wine industry’s biggest contribution to carbon emissions are the production and transport of glass bottles, so the lighter producers can make them, the better.

She pointed out that the problem with wine bottles is the shape, with masses of wasted space in every consignment of bottles; and Jancis is very keen on alternative packaging where appropriate for less expensive wines. She feels cans have a real part to play, as do recycled PET plastic bottles; the bag in box option is also very economical on space. She said she agrees that sparkling wine needs to be in a heavier bottle than still wine, but said there are some very e ective lighter sparkling wine bottles, and she hopes producers will research and try to use them.

Even labels and glues are worth investigating in order to nd the most sustainable option possible.

Sustainability has to encompass nancial sustainability, as well as labour sustainability – she suggested that producers lobby the government about visas for workforces coming from abroad.

See the next issue of Fruit & Vine for more information and advice from the various speakers at this year’s WineGB Conference.