A Global Wine Shortage?

A report out this week predicts a global wine shortage as demand outstrips supply.  Poor weather over the past three years, particularly in France and Argentina, has led to the worst shortfall in forty years of around 300 million cases. This has been exacerbated by a huge increase in demand from the US and China.  The report by Morgan Stanley Research which was published this week also states that wine prices are about to rise.

Conversely production in Sussex is growing, says Chris Fox of the Southeast Vineyards Association, and wine prices are good.  He said “the south east has consistently produced very good wines, and after a poor couple of years when supply has not matched demand because of the weather, yields are going up in Sussex.”

Sussex’s wine industry has blossomed over the past two decades as its chalk landscape has similar soil, climate and conditions to France’s champagne region and new vineyards are springing up all the time.  Sam Linter, head winemaker and MD of Bolney Wine Estate said: “the English wine industry is small but very fast growing.  We have managed to keep up with demand but in order to continue to keep up, we are looking to buy more land adjacent to our estate to expand.”

Tory peer Lord Ashcroft raised many eyebrows a year ago when he started buying up land in Kent and East Sussex to turn into vineyards for English Wines. In September he went a step further and spent £7m buying the award winning Gusborne Estate.  Whilst the land will take a few years to produce wine-yielding grapes, it seems, in the light of the recent report, the Lord may have made a very shrewd investment.A G