Client: Wealden District Council

Wine tourism feasibility study – wine continues to be one of the fastest-growing agricultural products in the UK. English wines are enjoying a renaissance at the moment. Annual sales of wine made from grapes grown in England and Wales now stand at over £100m and the industry produced a record breaking 6.3m bottles in 2014. English wines are now a regular feature at award ceremonies and state occasions. An estimated 1m new vines were planted in England during 2017.  The wine tourism feasibility study identified and analysed approaches to supporting the growth and development of the viticulture sector within the District to evaluate the potential for:

• Establishing a network cluster for local producers in the sector
• Evaluate the potential to build on the available programme of wine tours in the district / region
• Determine the potential for a wine related festival to raise the profile of this burgeoning industry

The Council’s wanted to assess the need to stimulate the sector where appropriate and to assist in a coordinating role (producers range from local artisans to major large scale producers). In turn it is hoped this will:

• Put Wealden on the map
• Drive high value visitors
• Drive high value jobs
• Build and add value to existing product
• Attract investment
• Increase local pride, and
• Benefit the whole District

The wine tourism feasibility study considered a number of different models and packages to achieve these desired outcomes.

How can we help?
If you manage a vineyard and are seeking opportunities to generate additional income by developing the visitor offer, for example, introducing a cafe, visitor centre or visitor accommodation or would like to discuss our work please don’t hesitate to call Richard Linington on 023 9248 1999 or email richard@pslplan.co.uk