A NEW winery has opened in East Sussex.

Hidden Spring, whose vineyard site was originally planted in 1986, was run successfully as a commercial vineyard for more than 20 years.

It then lay fallow until 2015 when it was re-established by new owners David McNally and Chris Phipps.

They have completely replanted the vineyard with 13 acres of new vines, and currently produce two award-winning still wines.

The new winery took five months to build, to David and Chris’ specification, and represents a major investment for the owners.

It will eventually be able to handle their target production of more than 25,000 bottles of wine each year.

Owner and winemaker David McNally said: “This is a major and very exciting step for Hidden Spring.

“Up to now, we’ve used contract facilities to produce Hidden Spring, now they will truly be ‘estate wines’.

“This year we’re harvesting our debut crop from the site too, so these are very exciting times for us.”

The winery becomes part of the visitor experience which owners David and Chris are very focused on for the future.

Guests can already take part in a range of activities including music evenings, wine dinners, tutored tastings in the dedicated visitor centre and guided tours of the vineyard.

English wine continues to grow in popularity and the number of acres under vine grows in tandem.

WineGB, the national association for the English and Welsh wine industry, estimates 700 wineries, cultivating 6,200 acres of vineyard produced almost six million bottles of wine in 2017, and that sales of English and Welsh wine grew by 31 per cent between 2015 and 2017. *

Broadcaster Olly Smith, who presided over the ribbon-cutting ceremony, said: “Year on year, English wine is proving to be nothing short of splendid in its tantalising range of flavours.

“Fizz is phenomenal but dive into Bacchus - a white wine so invigoratingly zesty it’ll make your toes wiggle with glee!”

Also present at the opening of the winery were Jilly Goolden, star of BBC’s Food and Drink show for 18 years, and John Worontschak, who made the wines at the original Hidden Spring in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Hidden Spring, located in Horam, produces quality still wines from locally-sourced grapes.

Their current range comprises Vines Cross (2015), a blend of Bacchus and Reichsteiner grapes, and two vintages of single varietal Bacchus, 2016 and the just-released Bacchus 2017.

These wines are currently available from the cellar door, via www.hiddenspring.co.uk or via a number of quality wine merchants in the South East.