Some 600 international delegates from 30 different countries gathered in Brighton last week at the 9th International Cool Climate Wine Symposium, the most important academic wine conference ever to be held in the UK. Three tonnes of ice, 4,200 bottles of wine and 22,000 tasting glasses later, the reputation of cool climate wines – and in particular those from England – has been firmly cemented in the minds of the global wine community. 

Over three packed days, the Symposium brought together global industry experts in academia, winegrowing, producing and marketing – all with the same vision: to meet, share and build new contacts for future collaboration and learning.
 
The 10th ICCWS will now move to Canada in 2020 and, in the meantime, it is hoped that the success of the 2016 event for England and Wales will inspire other emerging cool climate wine producing regions to grow and develop. As keynote speaker Jancis Robinson MW commented in her opening speech, “It is no coincidence that Britain is hosting this hugely significant event that effectively celebrates the coming of age of England and Wales as wine-producing countries. Perhaps the end result of all the knowledge shared… will be to encourage wine producers in many more cooler vineyard settings around the world – not least in the new wine regions of northern Europe. Could Copenhagen or Stockholm be a future setting for a Cool Climate Wine Symposium?”
 
“It’s been wonderful to bring people to England and to share our wines with the global wine industry,” said Chris Foss, head of Plumpton College’s Centre of Wine Education, chair of the ICCWS Programme Committee, and one of the original three who won the bid to host the ICCWS 2016. “It is about making friends and building communities.”
 
“The speakers have been brilliant,” said Pierre Yves Bourneriais of the Institute Oenologique de Champagne. “I particularly enjoyed the opening presentation of professors Dr Hans Schulz and Gregory Jones on Emerging Cool Climate Regions; and Oz Clarke’s English wine tasting,” he said, echoing the appreciation of many for the opportunity to taste such a range of English still wines.
 
So what might the legacy be? 
 
Bruce Tindale, chair of the ICCWS 2016 planning committee, commented, “The spirit of collaboration generated by this event has been inspiring. We look forward to the future with great expectation and confidence. It’s wonderful to see our UK wine community so energized!”
 
Speaking of the growing UK wine industry, Sam Lindo, chairman of the United Kingdom Vineyards Association and winemaker at Camel Valley Vineyard, said: “We are approaching the size that deserves proper coordinated research. Now would be a good time to have more openness.” 
 
For Foss, it’s about widening horizons. “Going forward, England needs to go beyond Champagne, to make contacts with the whole world of wine.”
 
Tindale closed the conference by reading out a note he’d just been given by renowned viticulturist Dr Richard Smart. “Bruce, ICCWS was definitely one of the best ever….. among the nine! Great programme, great organisation, great and diverse audience. Congratulations to the UK! May this conference do for the local wine sector what the 1984 event did for New Zealand!”