“It looks, therefore, as if this may be a very suitable time to forecast the rise of satisfactory vineyards in this country again.”
Ray Barrington Brock clearly had a vision regarding viticulture when he laid out his first vineyard in the spring of 1946. His aim was to show that it was possible to grow grapes commercially in the UK.
If you were to consult Clive Vickers of Halfpenny Green Wine Estate about starting a vineyard today, the advice would be straightforward, from the outset you need to have a clear commercial business plan. Before you start, you have to get your viticulture right, your winemaking right, the right people with expertise in place, your branding and sales technique right and identify your markets. You have to consider the cost of growing the grapes, making the wine, selling the wine and finding the right price point for your product. Clive suggests that many people have gone into the industry with a romantic vision of making wine and relying on the finished product to be sufficient to sell itself.
The furthest north being a vineyard in Inverness. Clive says that he gets a huge amount of enjoyment out of the contract winemaking side of the business, talking to the winemaking team, vineyard managers and it gives him some flexibility in that, if necessary, contract winemaking can subsidise Halfpenny Green’s own product. Whilst he enjoys developing Clive says that “I have promised the team in the winery that I will stop expanding the contracting making business”.
Figures from the most recent WineGB report there are just over 1100 vineyards and 238 wineries. Clive says that there are a lot of vineyards looking for contract winemakers. More vineyards are coming online and Halfpenny Green are receiving more enquiries every week. Harvest time is very busy but the winery has three presses and a lot of very willing, well-trained staff who work almost around the clock. However, you have to persuade Clive that you have a route to market. Clive says that too many vineyards have not thought through their business plan. He has been asked to guide people on how to market their wine and even where they should get labels made. “You need a clear business plan otherwise we will just end up sitting on your stock”. There are clients who have asked Clive to store the wine but not bottle it as they don’t want to go to the expense of bottling until they have found a buyer. However, they still have the cost of storage. Clive had heard that recently there were vineyards with grapes left on the vines and some of those that have harvested the grapes and made the wine are trying to sell bulk wine of 20,000L or 30,000L at £2 a litre.
It is clear from the WineGB reports that production is outstripping sales and, consequently, there are quite a number of vineyards sitting on a lot of stock. Clive says that he feels very fortunate at Halfpenny Green. The vineyard was started by his father in 1983, essentially, for fun. However, by 1989 it became apparent that the vineyard was going to have to earn its keep and it was clear that wine sales alone would not achieve that. Therefore, the family diversified and hospitality was introduced very early on. Hospitality, managed by Clive’s wife Lisa, plays a very large part in the business with a restaurant, shop, fishing lakes, on-site butchers and other independent enterprises. This together with the production of Halfpenny Green’s own products and the contract winemaking business, carried out by the viticulture and winery teams, provides a number of income streams, giving the business stability and sustainability. Overall, the business employs about 85 people.
Sensible business decisions have to be made and, to date, Clive has resisted the temptation to invest in charmat producing equipment in the winery, particularly as there has been considerable investment in the winery in recent years. One or two clients have asked but Clive doesn’t feel that the business argument is strong enough at the moment.
To reduce the costs of production Clive feels that vineyards will need to consider more technology and mechanisation. Mechanisation for leaf stripping, pruning and harvesting could all reduce costs. More mechanisation would require more training and specialisation of the workforce. In order to manage the logistics of making wine for 75 different vineyards the Winery uses InnoVint software to follow the grapes, bottle stock and the whole process of making wine for clients through to the storage of the bottles.
Along with more mechanisation, further research could be done into yields. Clive reiterated Stephen Skelton’s view that unless you get your costs down and yields up to about 5 tons per acre you will not achieve a sustainable business. The vineyards of Halfpenny Green and other sites managed by the viticulture team support about 15 different varieties some of which are high yielding such as Rondo and Seyval Blanc which, even in the Midlands, is regularly producing 6 to 8 tons of fruit per acre. The Winery produces a range of Halfpenny Green wines from a Classic Cuvee to a still Penny Red and Penny Black retailing at £12.50. Clive says that he has received considerable comment for producing an easy drinking red and white that is very popular. About 50,000 bottles of Penny Red is produced each year and has proved to be commercially very successful.
Halfpenny Green extends to 30 acres and there are a further 60 or 70 acres off-site grower agreements with local farmers. Different sites offer some security in terms of yield, insurance from poor weather conditions and additional complexity in the wine. Clive and his viticulture team help manage the off-site vineyards and pay for the grapes at the end of the year. Again, reducing the initial capital payment and risk.
Clive’s daughter, Imogen, has recently completed a degree at Harper Adams in Agrifoods and wrote a dissertation on English wine over the next five years. As if to reinforce Clive’s view, the main conclusions that he drew from Imogen’s work were concerns regarding the amount of stock being held against sales achieved and finding alternative ways of selling and how to reduce the costs of production.
There are many very positive stories surrounding the English wine industry, it is one of the few agricultural sectors that is growing. In the 2025 WineGB report Sam Linter said in her opening remarks “I am particularly interested in how we look after our ever-growing workforce. It is with reassurance that 90% of the sector are planning to hire in the next three years”. In 2024 3,300 people were employed on a full-time basis in a huge variety of roles across the board, in the vineyard, winery, hospitality and management positions. A further 13,000 are employed in seasonal temporary positions. But there are also many hurdles. There have been one or two notable disappointments and anyone considering entering the industry would be wise to follow the advice proffered by Clive Vickers.
After all, as the saying goes ‘how do you end up as a millionaire in the English wine industry’; the answer ‘start out as a multimillionaire’.
Share
News
