The Non-Commercial Forum.

A Non-Commercial Forum was set up by the SWVA at the beginning of 2006 in response to requests by a small group of members for events aimed at the smaller grower.  Since then the membership has grown rapidly and now accounts for about a third of the SWVA membership.

The aim of the Forum is simple, we all want to grow better grapes and make better wine and we all have something we can learn from others as well as being able to pass on what works for us.  The Forum also has a social element and most of its meetings have been held over a light lunch in amiable surroundings.

The Forum’s membership is diverse.  There are some who are new to growing grapes and making wine whilst there are others who have been doing it for years, some in commercial vineyards.  There are others for whom the Forum is a stage in their development as winegrowers and have aspirations to operate on a commercial scale at some time in the future (but have not yet given up the day job) whilst others are content to hone their skill to grow and make sufficient wine for consumption only by family and friends.

The Forum is self-financing, no additional subscription is required from members but a small charge may be levied at meetings to cover costs incurred, for example where an honorarium is paid to an invited speaker.

The SWVA draws its membership from a wide area; from the Isles of Scilly to North Shropshire.  The Forum deals with its geographic spread by organising one programme of meetings south of Bristol and another to the north; members are welcome to attended either if they are prepared to travel.

Recent meetings have dealt with topics as diverse as vine nutrition, growing grapes in adverse conditions, analysis and making sparking wine.

The Forum’s organisation is minimal; there is no committee, chairman or secretary.  There are two co-ordinators who organise the meetings programmes for the coming year; one deals with meetings in the south, the other the north.

In addition to its meetings the Forum also has a benchmarking scheme.  Information is provided by participating members on sugar and acidity levels, volume of juice per vine and diseases encountered. From these data an average result is calculated for each grape variety.   The analysis is carried out annually and is distributed to those who contributed data.  The scheme is voluntary.

Forum members can also sign up to an e-mail “chat room” to ask questions and exchange information with other members.  The chat room also has a photo album page, where photos of members’ vineyards and meetings are posted, and a links page, with details of websites of interest to the smaller grower. The UKVA also runs an e-mail forum which covers the whole of the UK winegrowing community and mainly deals with topics which concern commercial growers.

The Forum has expanded both in numbers and its range of activities since its inception and it will no doubt continue to so following a direction determined by its members.