Has it been a good or bad year for British wine?

It’s fair to say it’s been a ‘challenging year’, writes The Independent’s wine expert Rosamund Hall. But with the effects of Rachel Reeves’s Budget – and Trump’s tariffs on trade – are there more damp days ahead for the wine industry and the hospitality sector, or will the outlook brighten up?

November is a time when many vineyards across the northern hemisphere can let out a deep sigh of relief.

The vintage is over, the wines are tucked up safely in tanks and barrels – having completed their fermentation – and are now embarking on their journey to becoming a wonderful product for us to enjoy. The floors have been scrubbed and the equipment cleaned; safely stowed away for another year.

Has it been a good or a bad year? Well, in the UK, it’s fair to say it’s been a “challenging year”. Do you remember a summer of long, halcyon sunny days? No, me neither – we had a pretty bleak winter, spring and summer; interspersed with some good ripening days.

So, broadly speaking, volume is down – but the quality is solid. We are at the very margins of winemaking in the UK and so are fortunate to have such a dynamic and tenacious industry.

I hope the government will see sense – and at the minimum scrap the nonsensical duty changes to give a little respite to an already beleaguered industry (Rosamund Hall)

Wine is always at the whim of pressures far beyond the control of the winemaker. And while we’ve faced our own challenges on these shores, so too have our immediate neighbours. The vintage in France this year was one of the lowest in the past century, with major wine-producing regions including the Loire Valley, Burgundy and Bordeaux seeing a significant drop in volumes.

This was largely in part due to disease pressure caused by unseasonably wet late spring and summer – a critical time for the “setting” of the fruit.

I will keep saying it: wine is not like other alcoholic beverages. It is distinctly unique in that it can only be made once a year and is a reflection of a multitude of factors – it’s not like making beer.

Unfortunately, the pressure does not end when the finished product leaves the winery. It is facing an unprecedented barrage of issues that will really test its resilience. The wine industry in the UK and our hospitality sector are under attack – with Rachel Reeves’s Budget described as a “real kick in the teeth for both businesses and consumers” by Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirits Trade Association (WSTA).

The government also plans to plough ahead with the ill-conceived and damaging changes to duty that the previous government introduced. The new duty bands, which include 30 different levels of taxation for wine, are going to have far-reaching negative effects on the cost and availability of wine – especially the everyday bottles that the vast majority of us enjoy.

It all seems so shortsighted and counterproductive on the part of the Treasury. As Beale says: “Recent history has shown us that duty increases lead to price rises for consumers, a dip in sales and, as a result, fewer receipts for the Treasury. The near £500m loss in alcohol duty receipts, in the last six months, couldn’t make that clearer.”

Coupled with the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions, minimum wage and changes to business rates, there is a very dark storm cloud growing for the hospitality sector at all levels. Even Wetherspoon announced this week that prices will rise across its 800 pubs around the country. The reality is that these increased costs will be passed on to us, the consumer.

You don’t work in the wine trade to get rich, believe me! The industry is an incredible global family full of some of the most hard-working, passionate and inspiring people I have ever met. The links between the grower, all the way through to the warehouse worker and the place where the wine ends up being sold are strong – but the stress the sector faces is alarming.

I have to hope that the government will see sense – and at a minimum, scrap the nonsensical duty changes to give a little respite to an already beleaguered industry. And I haven’t even mentioned Trump and his proposed tariffs on imports… that would give a whole new definition to “orange wine”.

Rosamund Hall (DipWSET) is a writer, presenter and columnist specialising in wine and spirits as well as lifestyle, travel and parenting