Champagne houses eyeing top English estates

It’s only a matter of time before a Champagne house buys one of the top English sparkling wine estates, according to Richard Balfour-Lynn of Hush Heath in Kent.

Speaking exclusively to the drinks business during a recent visit to the estate, Balfour-Lynn said: “Most of the big Champagne houses have been here to see what we’re up to – I think they will eventually buy in England, it’s only a question of time.

“Look at the land prices – its £250,000 an acre in Champagne and £10,000 an acre in England, but prices are beginning to rise here.

“What I think will happen is that a Champagne house will make a bid for one of the top English sparkling wine estates rather than starting from scratch.”

But while the Champenois may be sniffing around English soil, Balfour-Lynn has no plants to let Hush Heath go yet.

Richard Balfour-Lynn

“I’m not currently considering selling up as I think being independent is important at this stage. I’m really pro English sparkling wine. There’s a swell of national pride at the moment – we’re proud of our fashion designers and ‘brand England’ has moved forward,” he said.

One of his key aims for the future is to grow Hush Heath’s exports, which remain tiny but are on the rise. “There’s increasing interest in our wines from places like Russia, India and China – top international restaurants want English sparkling wine on their lists. We’ve just had a big order in from Germany – France will be the last bastion,” he joked.

Since purchasing 161 hectares of land in Kent in 2001, Balfour-Lynn has been steadily building up vine plantings ever since. The Hush Heath estate now boasts 16 hectares of vines, with a four-hectare plot having been planted this May.

The estate makes 80,000 bottles a year and the plan is to rise to 120,000. Around 80% of Hush Heath’s production is sparkling rosé, a focus Balfour-Lynn believed would give his brand a point of difference when it launched in 2007.

“Sparkling rosé is one of my favourite wines – I love Billecart Salmon and Laurent-Perrier rosé. When I was thinking about launching the brand back in the early noughties I predicted that the popularity of rosé would rise, which has happened.

“It’s a wine that makes you smile and due to its rarity, feels more celebratory than brut fizz, it’s more special somehow. Rosé goes really well with food, there are some serious examples out there and the category as a whole is being taken more seriously now,” he told db.

“The plan was always to attack the top with a premium rosé. We made a point of being expensive when we came out priced at £35 a bottle – people were appalled but they still drank it,” he added.

Due to the difficulty of winning listings at French and Italian restaurants, Balfour-Lynn has targeted places like Soho House, Hakkasan, Maze, Fera, The Savoy Grill and the RAC Club.