Sugrue South Downs trebles its vineyard capacity

English sparkling wine producer Sugrue South Downs has trebled its vineyard capacity after acquiring Bee Tree Vineyard and securing a long lease on Coldharbour Vineyard.

Bee Tree Vineyard in East Sussex is 15 minutes from Sugrue's ‘Grand Cru’ Mount Harry Vineyard, the source of some its labels including Cuvée Dr Brendan O'Regan.

Husband and wife team Dermot and Ana Sugrue, who set up Sugrue South Downs in 2006, said of the acquisition: “Bee Tree is the perfect location to establish our own boutique winery.”

In addition to acquiring the 1.4ha vineyard Bee Tree, Sugrue has secured a long lease on Coldharbour Vineyard, which was established near Pulborough in West Sussex in 2005.

Sugrue will release its first Coldharbour Single Vineyard 2015 Blanc de Blancs under its Cuvée BOZ label next month.

“I've made every wine that has been released from Coldharbour since 2011,” said Sugrue.

“Since 2015, we've sourced a lot of fruit for Sugrue South Downs from this fabulous site and I’ve worked closely with the management team, Liesa and Geoff, for 20 years, since our Nyetimber days together. To consolidate this long-term collaboration and bring them into the Sugrue family is a wonderful moment for us. It's an exceptional and unique vineyard, and they are some of the most experienced viticulturalists in the UK.”

With the two vineyards now integrated into the business, and including 2.2ha Mount Harry Vineyard planted in 2006, Sugrue's vineyards has increased from 3.5ha to 11ha.

The news of Bee Tree Vineyard's acquisition comes six months after hotelier, Robin Hutson, behing the Pig hotel group, announced he had invested an undisclosed sum in the Sussex wine producer. In 2020 Hutson, a long-time supporter of English wines, himself planted a vineyard at the group's most recently opened hotel, The Pig in the South Downs in Madehurst, West Sussex.

From left to right: Robin Hutson, Katie Last, Dermot Sugrue, Ana Sugrue, Geoff Hall, Liesa Davey and dog Tara