Kingsland adds fizz to UK wine market

UK supplier Kingsland has become the first in the country to offer a carbonation bottling line option for wine to help brands capitalise on the boom in sparkling styles.

The Manchester-based firm’s new bottling line has the ability to fill between 12,600 and 15,000 bottles per hour, equivalent to around 25% of Kingsland’s total production.

The company initially plans to focus this new carbonation tool on 50cl and 75cl bottle formats, although it will eventually be possible to extend the option across the full range of options up to one litre.

The development follows Kingsland’s launch last month of WinePRO, an insight tool created by the company to help it understand not just what consumers drink, but why and when.

Sparkling wine, especially Prosecco, has emerged as a major growth area for the UK market in recent years, with an IWSR study commissioned by Vinexpo predicting that fizz consumption is expected to increase by a further 12.2% between 2014 and 2018.

Unveiling this new bottling line, Kingsland manufacturing director Mark Dixon commented: “There are other carbonation lines in the UK, but we believe we are the first to invest in this capability for wine products as well as low-alcohol, spirits-based, fusion and blended drinks.

As well as noting the benefit of increased bottling capacity, Dixon added: “this new line gives us much greater flexibility for our customers – and is, of course, in recognition of the increase in consumer thirst for sparkling products.”