English wine producer Hambledon Vineyard announces expansion plans

By Erin Smith

Published: 23 December, 2015

Hambledon Vineyard has announced plans to to increase the estates's production facilities in response to growing demand of its award-winning English sparkling wine.

Ian Kellet, managing director of Hambledon Vineyard said: "Hambledon has had a fantastic year in 2015 and we are now planning to expand our facilities to deal with the increased demand after winning two major sparkling wine competitions in as many months."

The expansion is part of a larger plan to increase the output and build up stocks to enable Hambledon to achieve an initial sales target of 200,000 bottles a year within five years, with production far exceeding that amount.

The increase in demand has been so significant that Kellet is not just looking at expanding the cellars for increased storage capacity, he is also looking at possibly increasing the amount of land under vine on Hambledon's Meonhill winery estate.

The Meonhill property is a neighbouring 46 acre estate on Winchester Hill in the South Downs. Currently 11 acres are under vine and are planted using the Champagne trellising system. It was purchased in 2014.

The expansion in part is being financed through the crowdfunding campaign Kellet launched in May 2015. The campaign was successful, however Kellet used a rather unconventional method of hitting his targeted £2.75m that he was hoping secure.

While most crowdfunding campaigns seek to get a large crowd contributing relatively small amounts of money to reach a financial goal, Kellet was looking at attracting a much lower number of investors with a minimum investment in his English Fizz bond starting at £10,000. The higher valued bonds were to paid back in 2020 with an 8% annual He also offered a 'mini bond' for with £1600 or £3200 for investors, but the 'mini bonds' rewarded investors with wine, not the 8% return.

The crowdfunding campaign reached its minimum target of £2.75m in under 30 days.

Kellet founded Hambledon Vineyard in Hampshire as he believes that the chalky soils of the South Downs is a differentiator compared to land in Kent and Sussex. it is England's oldest commercial vineyard, originally established in 1952.

Printer friendly version