Freixenet Copestick acquires English winery, Bolney Wine Estate.

Freixenet Copestick strengthens its position as the leading sparkling wine supplier in England with the acquisition of the renowned English sparkling wine and wine cellar Bolney. The transaction took place on 14 January. The contractual partners have agreed to maintain confidentiality about the terms of the deal.

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Newbury, 14 January 2022

This acquisition means that Henkell Freixenet is now entering the high quality English Sparkling Wine business with the renowned Bolney Wine Estate. This emerging category is regarded by some experts as “comparable to Champagne”* and in the last few years English Sparkling Wine has been experiencing exponential growth. (Value growth +56% IRI MAT to 28/11/21)

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Bolney Wine Estate is considered one of the pioneers among the estates in England. The winery, located near Brighton, was founded in 1972 by Janet and Rodney Pratt and is now run by their daughter Samantha Linter. Bolney has a portfolio of first-class sparkling and still wines that have won several awards. Most recently, it won the prestigious UK Glass of Bubbly sustainability award.

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Robin Copestick, managing director of Freixenet Copestick, commented: “When we first saw Bolney Wine Estate, we were sure we had found the perfect winery. The sparkling wines are excellent and the business is excellently run by Samantha Linter. She will work closely with the Henkell Freixenet and Freixenet Copestick teams as managing director. Together we aim to realise the opportunities of English Sparkling Wine and continue to grow Bolney Wine Estate’s position.”

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Sam Linter added: “This is a new chapter for Bolney Wine Estate. Over the past 50 years my family and I have worked hard to bring Bolney to where it is today. I am now very much looking forward to working with Freixenet Copestick and helping to develop Bolney within the group nationally and internationally.”

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Freixenet Copestick is the UK and Ireland arm of Henkell Freixenet. Dr Andreas Brokemper, CEO of Henkell Freixenet, says: “As producers of Champagne, Crémant, Cava, Prosecco and sparkling wines of various origins, we are delighted to add English Sparkling Wine, a still young, prestigious sparkling wine speciality to our “Pearls of Europe”. We are convinced that as the global market leader in the sparkling wine market, we can further strengthen the image of English Sparkling nationally and internationally,”

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“As producers of Champagne, Crémant, Cava, Prosecco and sparkling wines of various origins, we are delighted to add English Sparkling Wine, a still young, prestigious sparkling wine speciality to our “Pearls of Europe”. We are convinced that as the global market leader in the sparkling wine market, we can further strengthen the image of English Sparkling nationally and internationally,” says Dr Andreas Brokemper, CEO of Henkell Freixenet.

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The wines of Bolney Wine Estate will become immediately available from the Freixenet Copestick sales team as well as Jascots, the London On Trade wholesaler, and via the Slurp eCommerce website. But obviously we very much look forward to continuing with the excellent relationships we have built over the years with all our other partners and customers.”

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Ends

*Louise Dixon & The Associated Press, 28^th December 2021

Bolney Wine Estate

Bolney Wine Estate established in 1972 by Janet and Rodney Pratt, pioneers of English wine, was one of the first and most beautiful English wine estates. Today, their daughter Sam Linter, heads up the family business.

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Guided by nature, Bolney Wine Estate, has taken inspiration from its surroundings to appreciate its needs and protect its diversity and beauty for future generations.

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Sam, and her team, have led Bolney to become synonymous with quality wine in a contemporary style, producing a wide-ranging portfolio of still and sparkling English wines, from the Estate’s noted Pinot Noir to the classic sparkling Bolney Bubbly and Blanc de Blancs, as well adding Bolney Estate Gin and Rosso Vermouth to the collection.  The Estate has consistently won international awards, most recent awards include; a Gold medal for its Estate Chardonnay 2020, Trophy and Gold medal in the Glass of Bubbly awards for its Cuvée Rosé 2018 and Gold medal in the TEXSOM awards with its Blanc de Blancs 2015.

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The Bolney wines are sold all over the UK in premium bars, shops, restaurants, hotels and eCommerce sites Additionally the wines are exported to the US, China, Scandinavia, Japan, Singapore and Northern Europe.

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Entering its 50th year Bolney’s aim is to continue to be an educator and pioneer of English wine.

 

Freixenet Copestick

 

Freixenet Copestick is a merger of two UK based companies, Copestick Murray Wines Limited and Freixenet UK.  With top 10 wine brands of i heart Wines which sold nearly 33 million bottles of wine around the world in 2021 and Freixenet, the leading sparkling brand in the UK, Freixenet Copestick is the leading sparkling wine importer and distributor in the UK and Ireland.

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In December 2020, Freixenet Copestick acquired Jascots Wine Merchants and has previously bought Free Run Wines Ltd and the on line wine retailer, Slurp. Freixenet Copestick also owns 50% of Yvon Mau, a Bordeaux-based wine producer, négociant for premium French wines and the principal bottler for i heart Wines.

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These attributes make Freixenet Copestick one of the most diverse and vertically integrated wine companies in the UK.

(Data sources: IRI MAT to 28/11/21)

 

Henkell Freixenet

Henkell Freixenet is represented in 30 countries by its own subsidiaries. Additionally, the company exports its brands to more than 150 countries across the world. Henkell Freixenet is the world’s leading producer of sparkling wine, and offers Sekt, Cava, Prosecco, Champagne and Crémant from one source – in addition to a diverse range of wines and spirits. Brands such as Henkell, Freixenet, Mionetto Prosecco, Alfred Gratien, Segura Viudas, Freixenet Mederaño, i heart WINES, Mangaroca Batida de Côco and Wodka Gorbatschow belong to the group.

For more information visit https://www.henkell-freixenet.com/en/home.html

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