English and Welsh growers hold their own in challenging year

WineGB Harvest Summary: Provisional 2024 Data

Despite testing conditions, also experienced across Europe, a small but good quality crop was achieved in 2024, reflective of an increasingly mature and skilled workforce, the WineGB Harvest Yield Survey reveals.

Key takeaways for this season: 

• Industry maturity and understanding of vineyard management came to the fore. Expertise, resilience, and selectivity in the vineyard resulted in many producers harvesting a small but good quality crop.

• Mixed experiences across the board, with lower yields overall compared to 2023

• Stores of existing bottled stock and reserve wines remain high, mitigating the shortfall in production this year

• Challenging weather in some areas resulted in higher disease pressure this year

• Total wine production for 2024 across England and Wales is projected to be between 6 and 7 million bottles

 

The WineGB Harvest Yield Survey 2024 showed the value of the experience and knowledge built up over the years in the UK’s variable climate. As a cool climate wine region, significant vintage variation is common and brings a unique character and vibrancy to the wines produced on this island. While volumes were reduced this year, assiduous vineyard management and selective picking resulted in grapes with a high level of phenolic ripeness¹ due to increased hang-time over a longer than average harvest period. A true ‘winegrowers’ vintage’, the skills amassed by vine-growing and production teams in the UK worked in synergy with the variability of this year’s harvest.

The 2024 vintage is projected to produce between 6 to 7 million bottles, corresponding to a 30%-40% reduction on the 10-year production average (10 million bottles). It is important to note, however, that this follows on from 2023, the largest harvest achieved in the UK. Volumes of both existing bottled stock and reserve wines were bolstered by this bumper year as well as by previous high-yielding vintages, mitigating the shortfall in production this year.

In keeping with wine-producing regions across northern Europe, 2024 proved to be a trying year, with inclement weather and recurrent rainfall resulting in higher disease pressure. For example, Government data revealed that wine production in France fell by 23% compared to 2023, and dropped by 46%, 38%, 29%, and 12% in Champagne, Burgundy-Beaujolais, Loire, and Bordeaux respectively with reports of lower sunshine levels, excess rainfall, mildew, and botrytis.² Volumes were also reduced in Austria (-9% on 2023), Germany (-6% on 2023), and Switzerland (-20% on 2023) according to the OIV, with global wine production decreasing by 2% compared with 2023.³

In the UK, there were mixed experiences across the board, meaning that even vineyards spaced a few miles apart experienced very different weather patterns, particularly with regards to rainfall. While for the majority this meant a smaller harvest, there were some producers that picked little or no crop this year. In terms of yield, the east of the country fared better due to prevailing weather patterns. The South-East (East Sussex, Kent, Surrey and West Sussex) achieved the highest average yield, followed by the Thames and Chilterns (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire), and the East (Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire).

Overall, lower yields were achieved compared to 2023, however the top yielding quartile of vineyards were able to achieve a relatively high return of 5.9 tonnes per hectare. Potential alcohol levels are close to the 2016-2024 average and greater than the high-yielding 2023 vintage. The top four most planted varieties – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Bacchus – achieved good yields, with Bacchus and Chardonnay performing particularly well.

Due to the conditions, disease pressure was elevated this year, however with careful selection in the vineyard, a clean crop capable of making high quality wines was picked. Data from the WineGB Harvest Yield Survey 2024⁴ showed that over 70% of respondents reported losses to disease, mostly to mildew and botrytis, and 48% experienced late-season bird damage. Several vineyards also reported a rare autumn frost which prompted an immediate harvest. The majority of producers waited until October to begin their main harvest and picking continued well into November.

Commenting on the initial harvest data, 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.” 

Harvest Report Author Stephen Skelton MW added: “2024 wine production had a challenging year, but the figures show that when faced with climatic adversity, skilled growers are able to rise to the challenge and employ the resources available to them to produce reasonable yields. It also shows that our four major varieties – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier, and Bacchus – can produce good yields, even in testing years.”