English Wine Week 23rd-31st May

English Wine Week is a national marketing campaign, designed to raise awareness and availability of English wine across the country in both the off- and on-trade and consequently amongst British consumers. Last year saw a four-fold increase in uptake by the trade, with a sharp spike in sales. This year’s English Wine Week, which takes place from 23rd-31st May where retailers, restaurateurs, pub owners and hoteliers will be offered advice on how to encourage customers to taste their English wines and increase sales.

Environment Secretary, Elizabeth Truss, says, “This is a truly exciting time for English wine – our vineyards are rapidly expanding with more people than ever before enjoying our finest English bubbly – a clear sign the UK’s food and drink industry is thriving, helping power our growing economy”

Three of the major retailers, Waitrose, M&S and Laithwaites, all strong supporters of English wine, are already on board and will be running special offers, themed tastings and events during English Wine Week.

Elizabeth Kelly, Wine Buyer, Marks & Spencer, is a big fan of English wine, “We’re very excited to be launching our new range of English wines in time for English Wine Week. Many of our customers have already embraced English wine but we’re looking forward to introducing many more impressive still and sparkling wines for them to enjoy”.

Rebecca Hull MW, Wine Buyer, Waitrose, who have always been strong supporters of English wine, says, “English Wine Week is a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase our English range. We’ll be launching some new wines, with some exciting promotions, displaying bespoke ‘Support English Wine’ point of sale materials and running an English wine tasting programme in many of our stores. There will also be new content devoted to English wine on our online wine service, www.waitrosecellar.com. Our English wine sales are currently extremely buoyant and we’re confident that English Wine Week will build further on this success.”

www.englishwineproducers.co.uk