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Lord Ashcroft unveils sparkling wine plans
Former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, Lord Ashcroft, has unveiled plans to invest in the English sparkling wine market.
The Tory peer, who is list by Forbes as the 34th wealthiest man in Britain, is hoping to produce up to 400,000 bottles of sparkling wine a year after buying 150 acres of vineyards in West Sussex.
Ashcroft owns 76% of the company Shellproof, which has already bought its first vineyard and the Evening Standard reports Shellproof has set aside a further £4m to spend on more vineyards and the construction of a winery.
Shellproof bought into the Halnaker vineyard with 10 acres of mature vines, which produced 21.1 tonnes of grapes in 2010.
Shellproof’s plans to make 400,000 bottles of sparkling wine every year will make it one of the UK’s largest wine producers.
The announcement comes as another West Sussex winemaker, Nyetimber, confirmed that it was abandoning its 2012 harvest after the poor summer weather caused low quality and low volumes of grapes.