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 support small vineyards in the UK.

Defra does not distinguish between small or large vineyards, but has been working hard to support the growth and development of our flourishing domestic wine production sector as a whole.

Under the current Rural Development Programme we have provided £2.736m in direct support for vineyard projects against total project costs amounting to £7.086m. This funding has been used to support various initiatives including infrastructure projects such as helping build or develop wineries or tourist facilities, to purchase winery equipment, and even the development of a smartphone app that will amongst other features, show users where their nearest vineyard is located.