English vineyard for sale? Don’t mind if I do!
A four bedroom house with large grounds has been put up for sale in Berkhamsted, an affluent market town in Hertfordshire. At a price tag of £1.75 million, this seems like an expensive purchase, even for its location in the leafy outskirts of the commuter town. The catch? This property comes with a fully-fledged vineyard.
Weighing in at a cool 5 acres, the vineyard has been established for a number of years, and holds over 6000 vines. The couple, who started out the vineyard as a renovation project, whereby the site needed a complete overhaul of the vines, field and land as a whole, ran a successful business off of the land, and are now looking to move on to a fresh project.
The varieties of vine are Solaris, Rondo and Phoenix, and are well suited to the cooler, wetter climate of the South East of England. The wine is sold on site, through their wine shop that sits as an outbuilding to the main house, and has seen a stellar trade over recent years. Due to the wine shop, nearly all of the wine has been sold on site, avoiding the hassle of shipping and arranging wholesalers.
Having been on a tour of the vineyard (much smaller scale than those on the continent, mind!), followed by a wine tasting, it felt great to have a try of local produce on the doorstep – especially as this is so rarely an all-English experience. The setup was good, with a lot of potential, and has a growing fan base off which to launch a new vineyard venture.
So if you’re looking for a well-established vineyard, with infrastructure and equipment in tow, or an exciting project to lead you into the world of wine, this may be the buy for you!
