Partner to the UK wine industry

This week is English Wine Week; an entire week dedicated to the amazing English wine industry. And what an industry that is!

In the latest industry stats produced by Wine GB it resulted in some impressive figures despite the challenging year that 2020 turned out to be!

• The total hectarage was approximately 3500 hectares up 150% in 10 years
• There are 770 vineyards and 165 wineries
• 5.5m bottles were sold in 2019 up from 3.2m in 2018
• 10% of all bottles sold are exported up from 8% in 2018

It goes to show that the English Wine Industry continues to thrive and is fast earning global recognition for its high-quality wines and amazing sparkling offerings.

It was about 15 years ago that Boxes and Packaging began to work with some of the first commercial vineyards in the South and, as the market diversified, so have we. We’ve gone from producing simple transit packaging to allow movement of product from vineyard to retail environments, to mass scale production of those boxes, gift packs, seasonal promotions, point of sale, shelf ready and most latterly e-commerce.

Now, vineyards are scattered from the South Coast to the Northern reaches of Yorkshire. Indeed the
the highest vineyard in the UK, Holmfirth Vineyard, on the Schevling Estate nestles 840ft above sea level on the edge of the Pennines. It can be a very bleak place, and yet vines grow there quite happily, under the encouragement and expertise of the team.

And the expertise of our team allows us to work with vineyards to provide packaging solutions across all parts of their retail offering meaning their hard work, skill and fantastic products can make it all the way from grape to glass.

Taking wine to the marketplace

In its simplest form, we design outer transit boxes so that wines, both sparkling and still can be transported, typically in units of 6, to retail environments. This may be the onsite wine cellar, it may be a bespoke wine merchant, it may be a large supermarket. Whatever the market, we work with our customers to ensure the solution is fit for purpose and allows the product to arrive intact minimising product damage and the costs associated with this.

Such solutions can allow the wine to be shipped vertically or horizontally, as deemed appropriate by the producer, so that the corks can be kept damp if required, or distribution and supply channels can be accommodated.

Divide and conquer

Within packs there is often the need for fittings or dividers. These can give added protection to bottle necks and keep bottles separate when they are in multi bottle boxes such as transit boxes.

We can also provide fittings and dividers for other, less typical, box solutions. Perhaps a carry home pack of a red, white and sparkling wine from a vineyard. Perhaps a particular year’s vintage in a special shelf ready pack. Perhaps a box of six that is shipped through ecommerce channels but gives a fantastic unboxing experience for the customer or gift recipient.

You may have clear ideas on how you want to market your product, or you may wish for us to use our creative flair and expertise in the sector to create a new and innovative pack. Either way, with our professionalism, product and industry knowledge – both ours and yours – we can form a winning partnership to help the UK wine industry grow and prosper.


The perfect gift

Wine always makes a great gift and no more so than an English wine. Whether you would like single bottle gift packs, gifts for seasonal or special occasions, presentation packs, corporate gifts, wine hampers, tasting packs or combination gift packs where your wine complements another product, we have created many solutions in this field.

High quality print, innovative designs – that not only protect product but represent your brand – and packs that create talking points ; we’ve done them all and are always happy to work with you to design packs bespoke to your vineyard, product and brand.

English Wine has predominantly been recognised for its sparkling wine, but there are an ever-increasing number of vineyards that are now moving into still wine production now that the grape type and harvest permits.

As consumers look to try new wines at home this summer, and perhaps choose to buy this through ecommerce channels as well as from supermarkets and independent retailers, the UK Wine sector continues to choose corrugated and Boxes and Packaging as their preferred partner.

As a patron of WineGB we are proud to support the industry that is thriving and developing and playing such an important part in the wine, tourism and retail sectors of the GB economy.

*All facts and stats courtesy of WineGB