sustainability ambassador

Anne Jones has been appointed in a new and rst sustainability advisory role at WineGB.

The sustainability ambassador role is an advisory position created to bring commercial awareness of national and international sustainability regulations, schemes, and practices to WineGB.

Anne is a respected wine and spirits professional with in-depth knowledge of the global wine industry. Through her positions as Waitrose wine and spirits category manager and John Lewis Partnership drinks brand experience development manager she has developed and demonstrated an incredibly strong commitment to sustainability and brings a wealth of experience that can bene t WineGB.

Ned Awty, interim CEO of WineGB said: “As a young wine region, English and Welsh wines are in a unique position of being able to put sustainability at the heart of everything we do. With Anne’s knowledge and experience we harness and nurture those talents. We want to attract the world’s best graduates to our business and support rapid career development through a mix of training, mentoring and exposure to a range of projects with some of the worlds’ top viticulturists, winemakers and production businesses. We are really delighted to welcome Sarah to the team as our rst graduate trainee. can integrate our sustainability agenda into the wider world, play an important part in meeting the UK’s net zero and biodiversity targets, and be prepared for future regulation. I am pleased and excited to welcome Anne to WineGB and look forward to seeing her give voice and shape to sustainability in our industry.”

Vinescapes is looking to appoint further graduates to the scheme and has circulated details to educational institutions internationally. The details of the scheme and Sarah’s blog can be found on the Vinescapes website www.

Anne added: “I’m delighted to be joining the WineGB team at this stage on the sustainability journey. We have an exciting opportunity to position ourselves as a world leader in sustainability, building on the great work that is already being done around the UK. My role will help to re ne what that means for all our winemakers vinescapes.com/graduate-scheme/ Vinescapes also recently announced the appointment of Graham Fisher as senior viticulturist to its expanding team. Graham holds a BSc in Viticulture & Oenology and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from his many vintages from around the globe. Graham has a background in IT but quickly caught the passion for viticulture and wine when travelling in New Zealand, which prompted a change in career in 2004. Now based in Dorset, Graham is well-placed to manage the fastgrowing number of vineyards for clients across south west England. and producers, and then to create a united voice in order to support and represent the industry on a local, national and global stage.”

Anne remains in her position at John Lewis Partnership.

The vines were planted under the watchful eye of Professor Frank Vriesekoop, adjunct professor in

Food Biotechnology, and with the guidance of Martin Vickers, the founder of the Halfpenny Green

Wine Estate in Bobbington, near Bridgnorth.

Professor Vriesekoop said: “Ten di erent varieties of vines were planted on a 1ha plot by specialist contractor VineWorks, in order to establish a vineyard at Harper Adams that could be a production vineyard, a teaching vineyard, and a research vineyard.

“There are two drivers for the increase of viticulture and winemaking in the UK. One of these drivers is the development of new grape varieties that provide a mature crop in colder climates. Many of these new varieties also have a strong resistance to pests that would normally make it very di cult to grow grapes in wet and cool climates like the Midlands.

“The second driver will be the notion that global warming has shifted the climate enough to even allow more traditional grape varieties to do well in the UK.”

The vines were planted in early May but are already growing well – and Martin believes that their grapes could be producing wine within two years.

Martin explained: “Depending on conditions and varieties, if they develop a decent cane by the autumn that is capable of over-wintering, then the rst small batch of wine could be ready in 2025, and the rst decent cropping year for wine would be 2026.”

Professor Vriesekoop added: “I’d like to thank Martin and Halfpenny Green Vineyard [...] for their work with us.

“The Vickers family has been a very strong supporter for Harper Adams taking on teaching and research related to viticulture and wine making, and we look forward to working with them as our vineyard develops.”