English Wine Week Gives Us Two Great Reasons To Celebrate!
Not only is the end of May the time when we all come together to celebrate English Wine Week, it is also marks 4 years from the launch of English Wine Tasting & Tours.
Since its inception in 2015 English Wine Tasting Tours is now the leading English wine tour operator in the UK. From a fledgling business with an idea to bring Londoners out of the city with a monthly wine tour. They now run weekly wine tours that not only attract Londoners, but Brits from all over and the many international visitors who come to London throughout the year.
Their wine tours are unique in the fact that they pick-up from central London and take you to some of the best known vineyards in the UK, including Chapel Down Winery, The Gusbourne Estate, Ridgeview Wine Estate and Hambledon Vineyard to name a few. All of which are less than two hours drive away from central London.
Their public tours depart near London Bridge and are sold by the seat, with a maximum group size of 20. They appeal to everyone from individuals and couples to groups of friends, who all have one thing in common, they enjoy drinking wine, are curious about the English wine industry, and want an enjoyable day out from London without having to worry about who does the driving.
Tickets cost £97 per person and include transport in an executive mini-coach, tour and tasting at two vineyards, two course pub-lunch and one of their English wine expert tour guides.
While the public tours have really started to take off, the biggest area of growth for English Wine Tasting & Tours has come from private and corporate tours. They offer a range of private tours from small to large groups all focused around English wine.
The growth in private tours has been extremely diverse, as expected they appeal to the wine enthusiasts such as wine societies and wine clubs. But increasingly companies are using English Wine Tasting & Tours for their corporate hospitality and team outings.
‘’I am extremely proud of what we have achieved in the last three years. All borne from an idea over a glass of wine, to combine my passions of wine, food, events and people, to a fully-fledged wine tour operator. To me English Wine Tasting Tours is very much an events company that creates events around English wine. The most important thing to us is that people are entertained and have fun while on our wine tours, and I think our great reviews are testimony in themselves as to how people feel about their time with English Wine Tasting Tours’’
Nicola Boarer, English Wine Tasting Tours
Looking forward to the next three years, English Wine Tasting & Tours hope to grow their public tours to both the domestic market and the international market. In addition they want to develop the private tour side of their business for private individuals and the corporate market, and move towards multiple day tours to complement their day trips from London model.
As a whole the English wine industry is growing year on year with more vineyards being planted than ever before and more producers opening their cellar doors to the public. With this growth English Wine Tasting & Tours are looking forward to growing with the industry and continuing to fly the flag at full mast for English wine.
About the owner of English Wine Tasting Tours:
English Wine Tasting Tours was founded by Nicola Boarer, who previously worked across Marketing and Events Organisation for the BBC Good Food Shows, and has a real passion for food and wine, especially local produce. After moving out of London and having children she spent a lot of time visiting local vineyards with friends and was amazed by the high quality of English Wine that was being produced only a stone’s throw away from London. Nicola was keen to continue with her career in marketing and events, but wanted to be able to manage her work life balance and find something that didn’t involve her commuting to London daily. So she decided to combine her love of food, wine and events and make it simple for people to enjoy a day trip away from London and sample the delights of England’s Vineyards and beautiful countryside by creating English Wine Tasting & Tours.