Investors Target English Sparkling Wine to Challenge Champagne

With the increasing success of the English and Welsh sparkling wine industry, investors are looking to help expand the wineries and challenge traditional French Champagne.

The popularity of Champagne worldwide opens an obvious and large market for English bubbly that winemakers and investors are eager to join.

Hedge-fund Exile Mark Driver is spending over 14 million pounds to transform Rathfinny Estate, located in the South Downs in Sussex, into the UK’s biggest vineyard.

Driver said that he believes English sparkling wine has the potential to challenge Champagne and that “it’s hard to overstate the opportunity” in investing here – and it’s more interesting than watching shares go up and down.

While English sparkling wine still has a long way to go to rival Champagne (who produce 300 million bottles a year compares to the UK’s 4 million), it’s an enticing prospect for investors.

The land in the UK is less expensive than in Champagne, France for growing sparkling wine.

rathfinnyestate.com