To celebrate 2018’s English Wine Week, we’ve put together a list of our favourite wine businesses, mapping the way this sector is benefitting the UK’s high-growth sector and the broader economy (not to mention all the British sommeliers looking for something a little more homegrown).
The UK’s high-growth wine sector can be split roughly into four sections, ranging between suppliers, the merchants (both e-commerce and physical), and actual English vineyards.
Five English vineyards have taken on equity investment since 2011:
- black dog hill vineyard
- digby fine english
- hambledon vineyard
- giffords hall vineyard
- bolney wine estate
Of these, some are relative newcomers, such as Black Dog Hill, whereas others such as Bolney Wine Estate are much older, having produced wine since the early 70s. Hambledon Vineyard claims to be the oldest commercial vineyard in the country, and was first planted by Guy Salisbury-Jones, a British Army officer, back in 1952. The wine he produced was the first English wine in around 100 years. However, the vineyard virtually ceased production in the 90s, and was only reopened in 2011, under new management.
Digby Fine English, which operates a sparkling wine brand, is actually a négociant. Rather than owning their own vineyard, they contract other independent vineyards to grow the fruit. They’ve raised over £1m through four rounds, including two on Seedrs.
Of the vineyards, just Bolney is generating a profit. Clearly, this isn’t a suitable sector for impatient capital, and the potential returns for investors are limited. That’s not to say English vineyards are any less good than their Continental counterparts, it’s just not really a playpark for venture capitalists (though this might not be the case for Digby).
