Bolney opens new winery

English wine producer Bolney has opened its new, “state-of-the-art” winery which will allow it to increase its production capacity by 170%.

Opened ahead of the 2019 harvest, the winery investment is part of an expansion plan which will allow the team behind the Sussex estate to gradually increase production to over 300,000 bottles of still and sparkling wines by 2022 and up to 500,000 in the long run.

Head winemaker Sam Linter commented: “The opening of our new winery is perfectly timed to ensure that we can process more of our grapes than ever before and as efficiently as possible.

“This is especially important following our merger with Pookchurch vineyard in January which saw us form a 104 acre estate, which will see us produce 300 tonnes of grapes annually.

“The physical expansion, paired with the hard-work, passion from the team and the building of strong partnerships is key to the future-proofing of our estate – ensuring that we can continue to produce and refine our award-winning still and sparkling wines for many years to come.”

Estimates for this year’s English grape harvest are back to “normal” and Bolney estimates it will handle around 270 tonnes of fruit in its new winery this year.

In addition, Bolney has installed solar panels on the new winery and main office building, which will help reduce its reliance on the national grid by 30%.