Brexit freedoms from Brussels red tape will put a fresh sparkle into the British wine industry, Food and Drink Minister Mark Spencer has announced.
Using the opportunities to rip up EU regulations through the Retained EU Law Act passed earlier this year, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has agreed to help the British wine industry grow.
Already worth £10billion a year, the industry told Defra that it was being held back by the old EU red tape in a 400-page rulebook which has been stifling innovation and preventing the introduction of more efficient and sustainable practices.
The plans to help out the wine sector were first put in place by Jacob Rees-Mogg when he was Brexit Opportunities Minister, including a plan to allow sparkling wine to be sold in plastic bottles.
But a desire to help British wine get more of a foothold in the global market began with Theresa May who, as Prime Minister, championed it as a product and instructed the government to serve it in Downing Street.
It is hoped that the changes will help with exports and push British wine into the home market.
The reforms include removing expensive and cumbersome packaging requirements.
The sector wants to end the EU’s mandatory requirement for certain sparkling wines to have foil caps and mushroom-shaped stoppers.
This will reduce unnecessary waste and packaging costs for businesses.
Producers will also be able to adapt bottle sizes and shapes with out-of-date rules regulating this will be dropped.
It could mean a return to the pint of sparkling wine bottles beloved by Winston Churchill.
The Government will also remove the requirement for imported wines to have an importer address on the label to help create frictionless trade.
Further reforms will also give producers more freedom to use hybrid varieties of grapes banned by the EU.
This will enable growers to choose the variety that works best for them and reduce vine loss due to disease or climate change, while also providing greater choice to consumers.
Mr Spencer said: “We have a diverse and dynamic wine sector here in the UK – but for too long our producers have been held back by red tape inherited from the EU.
“The reforms we’ve announced scrap outdated and burdensome rules so that our wineries, vineyards and traders can continue to innovate and help grow our economy.”
Miles Beale, Chief Executive of the UK’s Wine and Spirit Trade Association said: “Removing the restrictive rules on importer labelling will significantly reduce the post-Brexit impact of having to have a unique UK label.”
