Ridgeview Estate Winery Ltd raises a glass as £100k helps double production
- £100k supports the expansion plans of Ridgeview Estate Winery Ltd
- Ridgeview increases capacity by 50% with new equipment
- Lombard’s funding helps Ridgeview transfer resources for a more efficient production line
Ridgeview Estate Winery Ltd is located in West Sussex and produces English sparkling wine. Founded in 1994 by Mike and Chris Roberts, Ridgeview is a family run business and specialises in growing classic grape varieties to produce bottle fermented sparkling wines of the highest quality. In 2010 it won Best Sparkling Wine in the World at the Decanter World Wine Awards for its Grosvenor (Blanc de Blancs).
Ridgeview was introduced to Lombard in 2005 to support the company's first major expansion. Since then Ridgeview has continued to grow and in its latest phase of development it came to Lombard once again to help fund winery, tank and disgorging equipment. Ridgeview’s Tamara Roberts explains, "We stayed with Lombard as there was no reason to go anywhere else. Funding with Lombard was straightforward, easy and, as we banked with NatWest, it helped having everything under the same roof. We found it the most efficient way of financing equipment and valued Lombard’s understanding of what we do and why we do it."
Lombard created a £100k hire purchase finance solution for Ridgeview to fund the equipment. David Greenough, Lombard Senior Relationship Manager, explains, "The specialist line that we supported enabled Ridgeview to increase its production. The tank allowed for more storage, the new riddling machine and disgorging line, which prepares the bottles for sale, increased capacity by 50% and has made the wine production process less labour intensive. This freed up workers for other essential production jobs such as bottle labeling and supported an additional line of revenue with the opportunity to offer contract services to other wineries. Interestingly wine is an asset that actually appreciates over time and it was this understanding of the business that was important in creating a funding solution for the customer."
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