Looks like a good year at Lanchester Wine Cellars

Mar 1 2010 by Karen Dent, The Journal

The current machines bottle a mixture of sizes and the company is the biggest bottler of quarter-bottles of wine in Europe.

Mr Cleary said: “Our lines are all brand new. We fill as well if not better that the country of origin; we can offer more sizes and we can offer a lot more flexibility.”

Lanchester bottled wine goes from the factory near Stanley to major retailers, wholesalers and brewers.

“We’ve just had another contract for one of the major Australian companies,” said Mr Cleary.

“They are coming to us; we’re not chasing contracts. It’s the latest technology. People like that, being able to see the brand new technology and know we take care of the wine.”

The company is also planning a further £1m-plus investment to produce its own electricity to power the factory and is in the process of applying for planning permission to build a wind turbine.

“It will make us carbon minus – we will produce more electricity than we use,” said Mr Cleary.