Here's why a vineyard is teaming up with a university to produce wine growers of the future
The proprietors of a vineyard and estate near Stourbridge are aiming to encourage a new generation of talent for the future from across the region by teaming up with a leading Shropshire university.
The founder of Halfpenny Green Wine Estate at Bobbington Martin Vickers and his son Clive are looking to safeguard the English wine industry by developing a new generation of talent in viticulture – the cultivation and harvesting of grapes for wine.
He has helped plant a new vineyard at Harper Adams University in Newport which will see students enrolled on a course in which they could become the wine growers of the future.
Clive's daughter Imogen is in her third year of an Agrifood marketing and business course at the university. The four year honours degree focusses on serving consumers through the global food supply chain.
The Halfpenny Green Wine Estate has expanded since small beginnings in 1983 when Clive planted 400 vines on a tiny patch of land on the family farm. It now produces 650,000 bottles a year with 700 tonnes of grapes crushed to make the wine.
