As Bolney Wine Estate continues to establish itself as a leading producer of high quality English wine, the Sussex vineyard announced a merger with neighbouring vineyard Pookchurch to form a 104 acre estate dedicated to increasing the production of premium still English wines.
Further establishing the Bolney Wine Estate as one of the key players in the English wine industry, the merger marks a big step forward in the Sussex-based winemaker’s plans to put still English wine on the map at home and globally.
Now part of Bolney Wine Estate, Pookchurch Vineyard is expected to produce an additional 200 tonnes of grapes for the Bolney Wine Estate award winning wines including the Pinot Noir, Bacchus and the Pinot Gris, a favourite at Wimbledon Tennis and a number of Michelin starred restaurants.
The absorption of the Cuckfield-based vineyard adds another 67 acres to Bolney’s estate, with an increase in quantity granting the award-winning winemaker the opportunity to continue to innovate and experiment, refining the quality of its already renowned still wine offerings.
The merger signifies an ambitious shift in the Bolney Wine Estate’s ascent within the English wine industry. Further to this, Bolney Wine Estate is currently approaching the completion of a new winery this February, harnessing new technology to increase production capacity to over 300,000 bottles by 2022. Throughout 2019, the vineyard will additionally focus on developing the estate to welcome a greater number of guests to the vineyard.
Sam Linter, Managing Director and lead winemaker at Bolney Wine Estate comments, “Merging with Pookchurch’s vineyard has strengthened our business for the future. We’re really pleased to be formally one team. Both Bolney Wine Estate and Pookchurch vineyard share the same outstanding sandstone soils and aspect so there is a lot of potential for new single vineyard wines. It’s also an opportunity to increase research, development and benefit from greater economies of scale across the larger vineyard. We are now a significant rural business and employer in the local community”.
David Wood, Pookchurch founder comments, “Bolney Wine Estate’s passion and culture are the perfect fit for Pookchurch. We’re delighted to be part of such a renowned brand and dynamic business. This is really exciting period of growth for us, by combining our vineyards we are in a powerful position to grow the brand and facilities across the estate. The merger firmly puts us within the top 10 of English Wine brands”.