Grape expectations for The Co-operative's English wine

The Co-operative Farms is to expand its successful Grown by Us food and drink range to include wine, as it plants a vineyard on its farm in Gloucestershire.

It will be the first time The Co-operative Group has produced its own wine, although it will be up to four years before the vines produce enough grapes for bottles to be available in store.

The vineyard will produce an English white wine, made primarily from the ortega grape variety, which will be sold as part of The Co-operative’s Grown by Us brand – food and drink either grown by The Co-operative Farms, or made using its produce.

The vineyard is being planted on around six acres at The Co-operative Farms’ site at Down Ampney, near Cirencester.

Christine Tacon, The Co-operative Farms’ Managing Director, said: “It’s a bit of an experiment but it’s one we are really looking forward to. The conditions at Down Ampney make it a good location to plant a vineyard, and it should make a great addition to our Grown by Us range.

“The Co-operative has a well-deserved excellent reputation for its wine, and, while it will take a lot of patience and an amount of luck, the prospect of adding an English white wine, made from grapes grown on one of our own farms, is very exciting.”

Gloucestershire is one of the UK’s leading wine-growing areas. Cirencester was a town in Roman times, and it’s likely that wine was grown in the area then. A wood next to The Co-operative’s Farm is called Vines Brake, suggesting it was once home to a vineyard.

As well as vines, The Co-operative Farms will plant a wildflower mix, to encourage wildlife, especially bees.

The Co-operative’s farm at Down Ampney already grows arable crops for products sold in Co-operative food stores, including spring barley used in its Grown by Us beers and wheat used to make Grown by Us flour. Hives on the farm are also used to produce The Co-operative’s English set honey.