§ 9. Mr. Yeoaskedthe Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the present level of wine production in England.
§ Mr. MacGregorIt is a little early yet to assess the size of this year's harvest, as many of the grapes have not yet been picked, but it appears that production of English wine might slightly exceed last year's level of 3 million bottles.
§ Mr. YeoWill my hon. Friend consider stimulating the demand for English wine, which is produced from grapes grown in this country, by making it clear on the labels of bottles of so-called British wine that it is produced from grapes grown outside this country?
§ Mr. MacGregorI shall consider my hon. Friend's suggestion. I am keen to encourage the increased consumption of English wine by United Kingdom consumers. One way in which that could be done would be to draw greater attention to the results of a "What Wine?" competition for white wines, in which two of the top three and five of the top 12 European wines were English. The winner was from a village in my constituency. I think that that is a tribute to the successful development of this young industry.
§ Mr. AlexanderWould it not provide a welcome boost to our wine industry if we had a more sensible relaxation of this country's licensing laws? Will my hon. Friend have a word with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to find out why decent English wine, not least in the House of Commons restaurant, costs more than comparable French wine?
§ Mr. MacGregorI shall refer my hon. Friend's comments to my respective right hon. Friends. However, it is not just the impact of taxation that makes English wine slightly more expensive. It is increasingly becoming a better quality wine, and therefore comparable with the more expensive ones.