Waitrose wine favourite puts vineyard up for sale

A British rosé producer which supplies Waitrose has put its business and 33-are vineyard up for sale.

Off The Line, which is based in East Sussex and was set up eight years ago, is on the market for £1.5m.

The business includes a winery and more than 14 acres of vines with the capacity to produce 20,000 bottles of wine a year. The sale also includes all vineyard and winery machinery and equipment.

Its planting includes Pinot Noir, Regent, Rondo, Dornfelder, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay grapes.

Off The Line has also secured planning permission to replace an existing agricultural building for extended winery facilities, with consent also given for the conversion of an existing agricultural building to a flexible commercial use.

Alex Cornwallis at BTF Partnership, which is handling the sale, said: “English vineyards with wineries like Off The Line rarely come onto the open market.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for an existing business to expand or diversify into wine production or for a newcomer to enter the burgeoning English wine industry with the potential for further expansion”.

The first vines were planted at the Off The Line Vineyard by its founders Kristina Studzinski and Ann-Marie Tynan in 2014. 

Their Hip Rosé is available from Waitrose Online Cellar and selected Waitrose stores in London and Sussex. They also make a super pale dry “Dog Rosé” (Regent, Rondo and Dornfelder) and the predominantly Regent “Dancing Dog”. 

Britain’s oldest wine merchant Berry Bros & Rudd saw its revenues rise 11.1 per cent in the year ending March 30, 2023, to £254.3m, while Tenterden vinyard Chapel Down saw its sales grow 10 per cent to £15.6m in 2023.