New contract winery open in East Anglia

With the UK’s climate increasingly favouring viticulture, and studies showing East Anglia is one of the best areas of the country for growing grapes, a rising number of vineyards are popping up in the region. But with very few contract winemaking facilities locally, getting grapes to a winery has required some growers to drive south of the Thames.

Recognising an opportunity, contract winemaker Defined Wine, which set up in Kent in 2019, began looking for a site in East Anglia. Head winemaker Nick Lane said easy access for vineyards was a key requirement for the new site, and the chosen location – Holton Hall Farm in Holton St Mary, Suffolk – is just off the A12. The building was previously used for storing potatoes or farm machinery, and is now being rented from the farmer.

Defined Wine is a ‘contract only’ winery that makes sparkling and still wines (white, red, rosé and orange) for vineyards without a winery who want their own label. The business has expanded significantly in the past few years and in that time, it has been making wine for a growing number of East Anglian vineyards.

The new winery is already proving popular and became operational the week after the launch on 6th September. Defined Wine CEO Henry Sugden said it’s already well booked up, though demand will ultimately depend on the harvest – a warmer start to September would have been preferable.

Well kitted out

As part of Defined Wine’s aim of supporting the industry by producing consistently good wine, having quality kit is important, Henry said. The state-of-the-art winery boasts brand new presses, a well kitted-out laboratory and numerous tanks of various sizes (to cater for different batch sizes), most of which were supplied and installed by Core Equipment, as was the fermentation control system.

At the time of the opening, they were awaiting fermentation tanks for red wine, as well as more barrels, which arrived the week after the launch event.

Nick Lane, who spent six harvests in Champagne before joining Defined Wine, will split his time between the Kent and Suffolk facilities. He gave a tour of the new winery, starting with two brand new Scharfenberger presses – a 4-tonne and 2.5-tonne to cater for different batch sizes coming in.

Some of the tanks came from Defined Wine’s site in East Kent, some were brand new and others were sourced from Chilford Hall Vineyard. The building allows space for expansion later on, according to demand.

Other equipment includes a Scharfenberger Euroselect Destemmer for gently separating grapes from stems for red wine production; and a Puleo peristaltic pump. Keeping the same brands and suppliers is important for consistency across the sites, Nick explained.

The Suffolk site will be staffed by winemaker Nora Leitz, along with cellar hands Greg and Toby and three additional staff for harvest. Nora joined Defined Wine a year ago from New Zealand, where she worked at a large-scale winery. She said she’s excited to be working with a range of different grape varieties including PiWis – and the eagerness of English growers to try different varieties makes working at a UK winery particularly interesting.

A local wine industry

Commenting on the new winery, Charlotte Davitt-Mills, co-owner of Shotley Vineyard in Suffolk, said: “We are thrilled to have a state-of-the-art winery practically on our doorstep. The close proximity of the new winery will undoubtedly make the logistics of harvest much easier for us.

“We will be able to say our wines are both grown and vinified in Suffolk, which is important to our customers as there’s a growing interest in the provenance of food and drink. In a wider sense it reflects the growth of the industry and the increase in demand for a contract winery in this area.”

Meanwhile James Cartlidge, MP for South Suffolk, said it offers a chance to put East Anglia on the map and establish an East Anglian brand for wine. “I think it’s an incredibly exciting opportunity, for farmers and existing wine businesses who want to grow. I’ll be supporting it as much as possible,” he said, extolling the virtue of being able to “finish the job locally and build the story of a proper local wine industry”.

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