WineGB has published its 2025 harvest report alongside the latest edition of its viticultural Green Book as the new growing season begins. Data from the Food Standards Agency confirms a sharp rise in UK wine production following what producers describe as an unusually favourable year.
WineGB has released its 2025 harvest report together with the revised 2026 Green Book as vineyards across the British Isles enter a new growing season.
The harvest report, authored by Stephen Skelton MW, draws on data collected through the WineGB harvest yield survey 2025 alongside other sources and analysis from the organisation.
According to WineGB, the 2025 vintage benefited from a notably warm and dry growing period that produced both higher yields and improved fruit maturity.
An early and dry spring brought vines into leaf ahead of schedule, while unusually hot weather in June and July helped accelerate ripening. The south of England experienced four separate official heatwaves during that period, creating conditions for what it describes as the earliest and ripest grape harvest recorded in the British Isles.
Production rises sharply
According to the WineGB report, UK production in 2025 recorded a 39% increase in harvest volume compared with 2024, the improvement was attributed to favourable weather conditions and the absence of significant disease pressure during the growing season.
Quality indicators in the report point to strong ripeness levels in the harvested fruit; growing degree days reached 1051 in 2025 compared with the five-year average of 1008, while average potential alcohol levels increased from 9.47% in 2024 and across the ten-year average to 10.48%.
Tartaric acid levels fell slightly from the ten-year average of 10.47 grams per litre to 10.22 grams per litre in 2025. The WineGB Wine Technical Group has described the vintage as a mast year, suggesting the potential for particularly strong wines.
Standout performance from several varieties
Several grape varieties delivered yields well above recent averages; for instance, Bacchus reached 9.5 tonnes per hectare compared with a five-year average of 6.75 tonnes. Solaris also performed strongly, rising from a five-year average of 4.20 tonnes per hectare to 7.20 tonnes in 2025. Pinot Noir yields increased more modestly from 5.79 tonnes per hectare to 5.90 tonnes.
The results were published on the same day as official harvest statistics from the Food Standards Agency. According to the FSA, UK wine production rose by 55% compared with 2024, the agency reported that 124,377 hectolitres of wine were produced across England and Wales in 2025, equivalent to more than 16.5 million bottles.
Industry optimism as sector expands
Nicola Bates, CEO of WineGB, said the results reflect both favourable conditions and continued investment across the sector. “We take great optimism from scale of the harvest and most importantly the fantastic quality of fruit we are now producing,” Bates said. “These results recognise the hard work and efforts of our growers, viticulturists and winemakers and they should feel incredible proud of this set of results. We are showing real resilience as a sector with exciting times ahead.”
Mark Dawson, wine standards inspection team leader at the Food Standards Agency, said the figures illustrate how rapidly the industry has developed. “2025 has been a truly exceptional year for English and Welsh wine, and these figures reflect just how far the industry has come,” Dawson said. “Our role is to ensure that the wine reaching consumers is safe, accurately labelled and meets the required standards. The growth we are seeing across the industry from vineyards to warehouses to wholesalers and traders makes our work more important than ever.”
New edition of the Green Book released
Alongside the harvest report, WineGB has also issued the 2026 edition of its annual Green Book. The publication contains technical guidance on plant protection products that can be used on UK wine grapes, together with regulatory information and spraying guidelines.
According to WineGB, the guide has been produced by its viticulture working group with technical advice from horticultural agronomist Will Robinson of Hutchinsons Horticulture Crop Protection and support from Dr Joanna McTique, crop protection scientist at HCP. Both publications are available to WineGB grower and producer members through the organisation’s Knowledge Hub.
The news comes as the UK wine sector continues to expand, as reported by the drinks business, the country now has more than 1,000 vineyards, and domestic production has grown rapidly over the past decade, driven by investment and increasing interest in English and Welsh wines.
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