Examination of Witnesses (Questions 640
- 642)
WEDNESDAY 21 MARCH 2007
MR ROBERT BEARDSMORE, MR ROBERT LINDO, MR MICHAEL
ROBERTS AND MR OWEN ELIAS
Q640 Lord Greaves:
Could I ask, Lord Chairman, other things being equal, where would
you see the industry in 20 years' time—or whatever timescale
you want to think on?
Mr Beardsmore: Could I make a comment. We had
one of the top viticulturists in the world here in the summer
last year, Dr Richard Smart. He has been involved in a number
of growth areas, certainly New Zealand and now Tasmania—that
is his homeland at the moment. Talking about how far we can go,
he made the point that in his view we hit a threshold—he
said it was 2,500 hectares, but there is nothing magical about
the numbers—at which point, he said, in New Zealand the
growth was absolutely exponential. He thinks that they are getting
not far from it in Tasmania and that the same thing will happen
again. His view was that he cannot say that it will happen in
England and Wales, but we are on the same sort of mark. We have
not hit that threshold yet, but if we do we could go from substantial
growth potentially to exponential growth.
Mr Roberts: If you draw the graph of the history
of New Zealand on the same axis, then we are at about 1983 and
they took off in 1992. The graph is very much the same, the history
is the same in terms of varieties and changing to a world-class
variety, and 20 years is a very short time in wine-growing, but
it is the time that it probably does take to get into being world
volume.
Q641 Chairman:
I suppose also that it is the fact that, over 20 years or so,
the impact of climate change is significant, and that is going
to take out a lot of the Mediterranean wines?
Mr Beardsmore: One other issue that is key to
being able to go from growth to a much faster growth—and
we saw it in New Zealand—was that they had a number of wines
there that were very good but they had to have a world-beating
wine, and everybody knows that Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is
top of its class. We have now got an equivalent in the UK with
sparkling wine. There are lots of other wines as well, very good
still wines in England, but you have to have that one wine, particularly
if you are a small producer, to make a difference and for people
to notice you. So it is very positive in that respect.
Q642 Chairman:
I think that just about ends it, unless there is a critical bit
that we have missed out which you think we ought to know.
Mr Lindo: Thank you for the opportunity to speak
to you.
Chairman: Thank you. It was very interesting
and very good. Thank you.
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