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California wines performance in UK strongest its been in 20 years

Published:  12 May, 2015

At yesterday's fifth annual Golden State tasting, California producers heard from John McLaren, the UK director of the Wine Institute of California, that the category has not been in better position in the past 20 years.

At yesterday's fifth annual Golden State tasting, California producers heard from John McLaren, the UK director of the Wine Institute of California, that the category has not been in a better position in the past 20 years.

McLaren said that in dealing with state's wines in the UK  "California is in a better place than it has been in 20 years."

The tasting was put on by The Vineyard Cellars, The Wine Treasury and for the first time Roberson Wine, three specialist importers of California Wines.

McLaren told harpers.co.uk following the Go West! tasting in February that California wines have benefited, particularly at the premium level, from the rise in the number of independent merchants as well as having success in the on-trade.  

"It was the best and the biggest we have done. The quality of the visitors to the tasting has always been good, but this year there were just more of them. There were 20% more people in attendence compared to last year," said Rory Benham of the The Wine Treasury.


Further Benham said sales at The Wine Treasury are up 18%, for the first third of the year and much of what the Wine Treasury sells is California.

Equally it helps that California producers are firm believers in the opportunities within the UK market and see it as a critical market to trade in.

Matt Licllider, of Lioco Wine, believes that the newer style of California wines which he feels are more restrained and have lower alcohols appeal to British consumer. He also said that because of the higher pricing of wines like Bordeaux and Burgundy consumers are more willing to explore premium wines from New World wine producing areas.

"There is an incredible receptivity to the freshness of California wines.  Equally, they are not as expensive as Burgundy or as Bordeaux. It is an exciting time for us in the UK at the moment," he said.

Jamie Kutch, of Kutch Wines, said: "Things in UK are super strong for us. I was Roberson's first California producer to be imported into the UK back in 2010. I've been on this ride with them and I am an enormous believer in London. Back then sure it was gamble, but  it had a potentially huge pay off. You are really betting on the culture of wine drinking here. I'm still a believer. This is the second biggest market for us beside the US and it is the largest export market we have by far."

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