Domaine Evremond to build new winery in Kent, UK

Taittinger’s English Winery Domaine Evremond has secured planning permission from Ashford Borough Council to build a new winery and visitor centre in Kent, UK.

The council gave the approval to build a two-floor structure with 1,390sqm space near Chilham within the North Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Under the documents published by the Ashford Borough Council, a significant portion of the building will be located below ground.

Additionally, for storage of wines, the winery will feature a dedicated area, as well as for different winemaking processes, bottling, labelling and packaging.

The winery is a joint venture between Taittinger and its UK importer Hatch Mansfield, scheduled for construction in 16 months.

Hatch Mansfield managing Patrick McGrath director said: “Our vision is to produce premium English sparkling wine and to deliver a top-quality centre in Chilham.

“Production of the best wine is all about the attention to detail and we’ll be following that same ethos in building our winery and shaping it to fit sympathetically among our vineyards.

“Domaine Evremond is committed to delivering this investment as soon as possible despite current economic circumstances and firmly believes this will cement Ashford’s place on the map as a premier wine-producing region.”

Upon completion, the winery will have the capacity to produce 400,000 bottles annually.

Taittinger, a French wine family, reportedly acquired the land for Domaine Evremond in 2015.

In May 2017, Domaine Evremond planted its first vines in a 20ht of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier.

In 2019, Domaine Evremond planted an additional 8.5 hectares of vines, which included 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay.