Wine GB calls on government for duty relief at the cellar door

By Andrew Catchpole

Published: 20 July, 2026

The annual Wine GB Conference late last week (16 July) called for more government support for the fast-growing sector, launching a ‘Wine Tourism Relief’ campaign, to help drive forward the development of cellar door business.

Calling for a collaborative approach both generally and behind this initiative, the call out to the incoming Chancellor was to ‘save the duty’ to protect and grow the UK wine industry, to deliver more investment, rural jobs, growth and increased sales.

Winemaker Charlie Holland, who recently stepped up to the role of Wine GB chair, outlined how cellar door sales have “become one of the fastest-growing areas of growth in the English and Welsh wine sector”. He added that strengthening this was not just good for domestic tourism, but “promoting the industry on an international level”, which would be “pivotal to the planned next phase of growth” on export markets.

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“We aim to persuade the Treasury to give duty relief on sales made through the cellar door of up to 50,000 bottles,” said Holland.

“This could represent a significant saving of up to £150,000 for each producer… and this will benefit all of us and encourage producers to invest in building their cellar doors.”

Inviting all present and beyond to back this campaign, Holland said this would send a “clear message” to government and that supporting the initiative would mean backing British agriculture, tourism and enterprise, helping build greater resilience into the sector.

Collective UK cellar door sales currently sit at around £1.4m, but with the continued emergence and upgrading of cellar door operations this could fast rise, with duty relief helping that growth and, in the longer term, boosting the take for the Treasury.

Building greater ‘resilience’ into English and Welsh wine production was a major theme of the Conference, with the Wine Tourism Relief campaign being one of three ‘asks’, alongside “funding to level the playing field” and “wine reforms and labelling”.

Meanwhile, Wine GB also announced its first charity partner, The Drinks Trust, with Holland highlighting the importance the workforce, which he described as “our greatest asset”.

Elsewhere, much of the Wine GB Conference was committed to focusing on driving exports, with export market opportunities identified and the means to best exploit those channels highlighted.

“We’ll be expanding our trade tastings, boosting our export support and driving wine tourism” said Holland, describing English and Welsh wines now as “truly world class”.

Harpers will carry a full analysis of the export plans of Wine GB in the forthcoming August issue.

For more information on the Wine Tourism Relief campaign, click here.

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