Gusbourne reports double digit growth for 2023

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 31 January, 2024

Gusbourne has revealed the results of what turned out to be a major year of change and upheaval for the estate, with sales growth both in the UK and abroad in the double digits.

Via newly released unaudited results, provisional UK wine sales growth for the Kent-based estate is expected to be up by c.17% to around £5m in 2023 (versus £4.2m in 2022), representing strong uplift across both direct to consumer and UK trade sales channels.

Total net revenue after excise duty is also expected to be up on 2022. This figure includes export sales and grew 13% YOY to £7.1m in 2023, versus the final figure for 2022 at £6.2m.

Read more: Gusbourne reshuffle continues with new head winemaker

Growth wasn’t quite as high as 2022, when total net revenue grew by a whopping 49%. However, it’s still a strong performance in a year which saw various challenges both inside and outside the business, including the departure of Charlie Holland, Gusbourne’s former head winemaker and CEO.

“[The year] 2023 has seen the group make further progress against our growth strategy as we continue to strengthen Gusbourne’s position as the one of the UK’s most significant fine wine producers,” said Jonathan White, Gusbourne’s new CEO.

“These results have been achieved against a difficult macroeconomic environment, which ultimately resulted in more challenging trading conditions for the luxury goods sector in the second half of the year. Despite this backdrop, we have continued to see significant consumer demand for Gusbourne’s wines with robust growth across all three of our sales channels, underpinned by the careful and continued investment in the brand and the commitment and dedication of our talented team.”

Gusbourne reported strong results in exports as well as domestic sales for 2023.

Extrapolated from the total net revenue figure, international sales into a total of 35 markets grew by an estimated 7% to £1.5m and are expected to account for around 23% of total net wine sales for 2023, versus 22% in 2022.

This reflects a ‘strong recovery in the second half as inventory levels were normalised’, Gusbourne said.

The estate also continued to make its mark via several new launches in 2023. These include the critically acclaimed second vintage of Fifty One Degrees North, plus a repackaged still English rosé and two new membership schemes.

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