Encirc Beverages developing strategic collaboration with the Institute of Masters of Wine

March 2024
Dr. Chris Borman, Winemaker at Encirc’s Bristol site, the Park, showing the students from the Institute of Masters of Wine around the factory.
Dr. Chris Borman.

Encirc Beverages is known as a leader of the drinks industry, so a growing collaboration with aspiring “masters” of the wine trade, is a perfect match!

The company recently hosted a group of students from the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) at its Bristol-based site, The Park, as it continues to develop this growing, strategic relationship with the Institute, which is seen as the home of exceptional expertise in the world of wine.

Encirc, a Vidrala Group company, has established itself as the UK’s number one wine bottle producer and filler. It fills 400 million litres of wine per year, enjoys a 40 per cent market share and bottles 18 of the top 20 wine brands in the UK.

Close collaboration with the Institute benefits all wine stakeholders.

Being a Master of Wine (MW) is the highest accreditation you can achieve in the wine industry, it is the pinnacle, and this is just the sort of like-minded industry experts that Encirc wants to engage with. Equally, an endorsement by MWs for the UK wine bottling industry and Encirc Beverages, in particular, is massive for the business and the industry.

Resident winemaker at The Park, Dr. Chris Borman sees many advantages for Encirc Beverages.

He said: “We were delighted recently to show some students on the Master of Wine programme around the factory. Importantly, we were able to show them the bottling aspect of the process and what we do to ensure that the wine we fill and distribute maintains its high quality.

“It was a brilliant tour, it took almost three hours and the students had so many questions at the end, so I hope it was beneficial for them and it was great to have them on site. Being Masters of Wine is quite a select group. The exams the students are preparing for are incredibly tough. So, they were keen to learn and take on as much knowledge as possible about what we do at Encirc.”

“We have been developing our relationship with the Institute in recent times and we spoke at their conference in Germany last year, as-well-as hosting other tours and participating in webinars. We want to be proactive in developing our work with IMW so that we can learn from them and they can see what we, as the company that bottles 18 of the top 20 wines in the UK, offers. It is an important collaboration.”

Chris has been based at The Park since 2013 and has been in this new role at Encirc Beverages for the past 12 months following Encirc’s acquisition of the former Accolade Wines business.

He works closely with their sister plant at Elton to ensure they have aligned processes as much as possible, so the customer has the same experience whether they bottle at Elton or The Park.

Chris firmly believes that his role at The Park, as well as that of colleague Madalena Moreira at Elton, is the most cost-effective solution for their customers with their on-site expertise able to not only spot potential problems but also solve them while being in constant contact with the customer.

Chris believes Encirc will continue to build its relationship with the IMW in a bid to ensure sustainable supply chain solutions across all its business, increased customer satisfaction and ultimately happy wine consumers throughout the UK.

Dr. Chris Borman.

‘We want to be proactive in developing our work with IMW so that we can learn from them and they can see what we, as the company that bottles 18 of the top 20 wines in the UK, offers. It is an important collaboration.’

Dr. Chris Borman.

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