British supermarket company Waitrose has announced that it has planted 50% more vines at its vineyard on the Leckford Estate in Hampshire.
The new vines will extend the production of Leckford Estate Brut, which is made with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier grapes.
The Leckford Estate vineyard currently produces 30,000 bottles per year, depending on harvest conditions, and the new vines are expected to boost production to 45,000 bottles of Leckford Estate Brut.
Becky Hull, MW, the English- and Welsh-wine buyer for Waitrose, said, "We have always put a great deal of time and energy into our English and Welsh wine range. Our customers have already given Leckford Brut a warm welcome, so we’re thrilled that we can invest in more vines on our Waitrose farm in Hampshire to make even more fantastic home-grown wine for the future."
Fruits Of Their Labour
According to the supermarket chain, sales of English wine are increasing at Waitrose, by 67% year on year.
In 2016, it increased its range of English and Welsh wine by 25%, introducing several new winemakers to the national retail market for the first time.
Last month, Waitrose also announced that it became the first UK supermarket to export English wine to China, selling four English sparkling wines through the Royal Mail store on Tmall, the online marketplace operated by Alibaba Group.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Aidan O'Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
