BUSINESS
British sparkling winemakers raise a glass to new bottle rules
Britain’s 900 vineyards will also be allowed to sell still and sparkling wine in 200ml bottles or cans
Sarah and Mark Driver, who run the Rathfinny Estate in East Sussex are delighted wine can now be sold in pints
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE
British winemakers are celebrating after plans to allow sparkling wine to be sold in “pints” were announced.
The co-owners of the Rathfinny Wine Estate in Alfriston, East Sussex had laid down 800 of their 50cl bottles — slightly smaller than a pint — following the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union.
The bottle size — which had been pronounced the “ideal” size by Sir Winston Churchill — had been banned after Britain joined the European Economic Community in 1973.
Winston Churchill’s preferred bottle size was a pint
AP
More than half the champagne sold in Britain before that was in pint-sized bottles. Churchill described it as being “enough for two at lunch and one at dinner”.
Mark Driver, co-owner of the Rathfinny Estate, said they were delighted at the government’s decision to ditch
