Ridgeview brings in external expertise

Ridgeview has hired former Laithwaites winemaker and buyer Robin Langton as chief operating officer to help the English wine producer double production in the next five years.

The Sussex winery, which recently celebrated its 20^th anniversary, has also taken a major step to develop exports this year by teaming up with US importer New Horizon Wines.

Despite setting out an ambition to raise Ridgeview’s annual production from 300,000 bottles to 600,000 bottles in the next five years, CEO Tamara Roberts stressed the importance of keeping the business under family control.

“One of the key things for us is to remain family run,” she told the drinks business. “We don’t want to be the biggest, but we certainly want to be the best. That means growing in small steps and not letting the excitement of the English wine industry make us get carried away.”

Against this backdrop, Roberts explained the decision to appoint Langton, who brings 15 years experience as a winemaker in the US, New Zealand and France, coupled with commercial skills gained during his most recent role as a senior buyer for Laithwaites.

“We want to go to the next step but there is a limit to what you can do,” she acknowledged. “We’re a small family unit so it was natural to bring in expertise to help us get to the next level.”

Robin Langton, Ridgeview’s new COO

Explaining his own decision to join Ridgeview, Langton told db: “The things that really attracted me were the family ethos and the focus on quality. Twenty years ago that was quite a brave thing to be doing so to see them driving forward in a really considered, approachable way – I was just blown away.”

As for the opportunity to apply his industry expertise on domestic soil, Langton remarked: “When I started I would never have expected to be doing this in the English trade. Now is a great time to come in and take that next step. It’s reached that point in the industry where it’s about professionalism, growing volume, rationalising production and building exports.”

With his initial focus on helping Ridgeview to increase quantities without compromising on quality, Langton commented: “The race has quickened. It’s really important for each of our styles to be the best.”

For the most part, Roberts confirmed that the extra grapes required for this planned expansion would come from new plantings among Ridgeview’s network of growers.

However, she again emphasised the desire to keep Ridgeview under family control, remarking: “We will probably buy more land but we’re not about to go crowdfunding,” in reference to the approach adopted by other English producers such as Chapel Down and Hambledon Vineyard.

By the 2016 harvest, Ridgeview will have completed a major expansion of its winery and cellar door facility, creating capacity for 600,000 bottles, “if not more,” said Roberts. “We’re lucky to have a 35-40 acre site so there’s a built-in contingency to grow more if we need to.”

Closely tied to this growth is the aim to build a solid export business, with Roberts highlighting the appeal of the US market as a starting point. “It’s a big market that’s educated,” she summed up. “We would worry about going into China.”

Langton echoed this attraction of the US, highlighting its strong cultural affinity with the UK. “There’s a lot of love for Brits in the USA,” he commented. “They have a deep and broad range of wine knowledge. The sommeliers are always looking for what’s interesting and coming next. It’s early days but getting out there is a must-do for us.”

While Ridgeview may be one of the first English wine producers to dedicate serious focus to exports, Roberts noted the importance of others joining this push. “There’s no point in just being us there in the market; we need others,” she remarked. “It’s about getting a name as a category out there.”

To this end, she pointed to activities such as the stand taken by English Wine Producers at ProWein in recent years. As several other companies step up their own production and with it their export ambitions, she observed: “It’s galvanised us all to work together to a certain extent.”