Tell us about your plans for the WineGB tasting on September 7?
WineGB's trade and press tasting takes place on September 7 at Old Billlingsgate in London
This year’s tasting is about being bigger and better and that’s why we’ve chosen the iconic Old Billingsgate to host it, bringing together hundreds of decision makers in one room, ready to taste, list and champion English and Welsh wine.
It’s back again on a Monday - September 7 - which proved easier for our guests, especially sommeliers, to hopefully attract more trade and press visitors. As well as the quality of our wines, a story in their own right, we are developing the story around the education and resilience that make the English and Welsh wine sector unique.
It’s deliberately more commercially minded and we’re urging hospitality operators, retail outlets and tourism operators to seize the commercial opportunity presented by the fast-growing English and Welsh wine category - whether that’s listings, collaborations, or new routes to market.
Alongside that, for the first time we’re bringing a stronger tourism lens into the event. Wine tourism is one of the quickest growing areas of UK hospitality, and the tasting will highlight how producers are building experiences that drive footfall, revenue and regional economic impact. So, it’s very much a showcase of both product and place.
Any particular themes you are looking to explore?
This year we’re exploring themes that directly support commercial growth, so we’ll be helping buyers understand how the category has evolved and where those opportunities lie, whilst so showing the scale and speed of how the UK’s wine industry has expanded.
English and Welsh wine is entering a new era, and the hospitality industry is one of the most powerful levers for longterm category visibility.
Charles Carron Brown, restaurant manager and sommelier at Aulis London, will share his views on hospitality's role in promoting English and Welsh wines as part of a special hospitality debate
As part of our Building the Future of English Wine Through Hospitality, discussion, chaired by The Buyer’s Richard Siddle featuring Charles Carron Brown, restaurant manager and sommelier from Aulis London, Kate Nicholls chair of UK Hospitality alongside producers, urban winemakers and other hospitality leaders, they will challenge some of the assumptions that continue to shape the relationship between English and Welsh wine and hospitality and explore how it can be a permanent, year-round feature of the nation’s wine culture.
We really want to signal how wine tourism is firmly part of Britain’s visitor-economy agenda. So as part of one of our other discussions, we want to demonstrate how to build region-led ranges and experiences, as well as the opportunity in having a coordinated approach to destination development.
This will feature our WineGB regional director and founder of Laurel Vines, Ian Sargent, as well as the winners of our recent Cellar Door awards, alongside industry spokespeople.
There has been a lot of attention about English and Welsh still wines recently - how will they be represented at the tasting?
Still wines are definitely a category coming of age and that shone through at our recent awards, which marked an evolution in still winemaking, with standout performances across Chardonnay, Bacchus, rosé and Pinot Noir.
These trophy winners will be showcased there on the awards table, but they will also appear across any of our producer tables in the main hall.
Will there be pet nats, natural and other styles of wine at the tasting?
These styles have a strong presence across our members, and our Supreme Champion overall winner of the 2026 WineGB Awards was Langham’s minimal intervention Perpetual – Chardonnay 2nd Edition. We are looking forward to how these feature throughout our producer tables. They’re also increasingly relevant for tourism, where visitors are looking for discovery, personality and stories.
What masterclass and specialist tastings are you looking to offer?
Kate Nicholls, chair of UK Hospitality, will be sharing her considerable expertise on the opportunities for English and Welsh wine across the UK restaurant, pub and bar sector during the hospitality debate at the WineGB trade tasting
Alongside the hospitality and tourism discussions that will be taking place, we’re also bringing some sensory science to the day, to deliver acommercially focused exploration of how English wine glasses elevate perception, enhance flavour, and increase customer satisfaction across vineyard experiences and hospitality service.
Guests will be able to experience the difference live, unlocking practical techniques to improve customer experience and drive premiumisation and see how glass architecture influences aroma, palate structure, and perceived quality.
Any highlighted tasting areas?
The tasting follows in the footsteps of our conference, with the theme of resilience and with PiWis being a sustainable solution to the challenging climate, we’re going to explore wines produced from hybrids, to naturally resist disease. As climate resilience and sustainability continue to take centre stage in the wine world, these grapes are gaining recognition for their environmental and qualitative potential.
Chardonnay too deserves to be celebrated as the UK’s most planted grape. Representing 33% of total plantings, we want our visitors to explore the crisp, high-acidity backbone of world-class English and Welsh sparkling wines and premium still white wines.
And then we’ve also introduced a cellar door by price focus table, in a fun and practical way for the trade to discover English and Welsh wines by cellar door and retail website price and to see the breadth of the range now that caters for all occasions.
The tasting is happening as we lead into the 2026 harvest - how is that looking in terms of quality and production?
Hotter growing seasons have driven rapid expansion of UK viticulture and last year saw us having a vintage of outstanding quality. That said, our producers are navigating the unpredictability of the weather, so building long-term climate resilience plans is essential for protecting our vineyards and to future proof English and Welsh wine.
It’s too early to say the overall impact on this year's UK harvest, but we’re optimistic for exciting times ahead.
Over the summer, we hope to see everyone flocking to a local vineyard or supporting our producers in any way they can, and most importantly enjoy the quality wine and experiences that are available on our doorsteps.
What are the other main objectives for WineGB over the next 12 months?
Our priorities are centred on commercial growth and building a compelling, unified category for the trade, to ultimately drive sales. That’s everything from strengthening our trade engagement, driving our export expansion and building consumer awareness, demonstrating the quality of our wines through our awards and our Golden 50 Wine List, through to championing wine tourism as a major hospitality growth sector.
The other side of this coin is to campaign for targeted government support to turn rapid expansion into long-term growth. This involves calling for stronger protection for British-grown grapes, improved access to grants to level the playing field and a new Wine Tourism Relief, to allow for business investment from wine sold directly at vineyards and wineries.
This is captured in our Backing British Vineyards campaign, which is live now, and helps vineyard owners and their customers seek the for a relief that would remove duty from wine sold directly to visitors at vineyards and wineries, up to a threshold of 50,000 bottles. This would be a small sum to the Chancellor but would particularly benefit our smaller producers, many of which depend heavily on cellar-door sales who could then re-invest to grow.
Where are you seeing most growth internationally and what your target export markets?
Growing international demand for English and Welsh wine and the strategic importance of export, is key to the sector’s longterm resilience. And with premium sparkling outperforming global averages and still wines gaining recognition in key markets, international expansion is now central to industry growth.
Producers are already achieving success across the Nordics, Japan and the United States, and these markets offer structured routes to entry, strong consumer alignment, and clear commercial potential.
WineGB is able to provide a platform for ambitious English and Welsh producers wanting to sell more wines overseas by taking out generic stands at key trade shows like Wine Paris
Through our Export Programme we’re focusing on providing comprehensive support and solutions on the practical challenges on logistics to compliance and production planning, as well as market intelligence, trade missions and importer introductions, to unlock this a viable commercial opportunity for our producers.
We’re just building our 2027 and 2028 marketing activation plan, but there will most certainly be a strong programme of trade tastings in our key export markets, to open up opportunities for our members.
Anything else to add?
Our market support is vital for members in selling their wines, and WineGB continues to support members at whichever size or point in their journey. Whether this is from initial land assessment to selling the holding.
Our members have access to vital information from our New Entrants Guide – the A-Z in making a success of a UK vineyard; our guidance to be compliant; sustainability toolkits and evidencing with our Sustainable Wines of Great Britain independent certification; and ultimately being part of a community of likeminded, education led passionate professionals and hobbyists through local and national networks,
As we help the sector to directly sell more, equally we help them to make the best grapes and wines and to improve the trading climate. This all benefit the fastest growing agricultural sector in the UK, and the most exciting global wine category.
For any UK wine producer or grower that’s interested in joining WineGB and accelerating their growth plans, get in touch today.
* The National WineGB Trade and Press tasting takes place on September 7 between 9.30am and 6pm at Old Billingsgate, 16 Lower Thames Street, London EC3R 6DX. Click here for more information and to register.
