Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of regulations applying to winemakers.

Defra is currently reforming and implementing retained European Union wine legislation to boost the wine industry, allowing continued innovation and growth to the economy. Our first Statutory Instrument (SI) entered into force on 1 January 2024, and included labelling reforms to benefit importers and exporters, and removal of wine certification arrangements to reduce burdens. Our second SI was approved in Parliament on 17 January 2024, and will come into force in July 2024. This protected the specialist product “ice wine” and updated winemaking practices to enable wine producers to use the latest technological advancements. There are plans for further reforms in 2024, which will cover a wide range of topics including low and no wine and in-market transformation, which will free up industry through increased choice.