William Hardy Shiraz

Accolade Wines, producer of Hardys and Echo Falls, has opened an £8.5m bottling line capable of filling 1,200 bottles of wine every minute at its Bristol-based plant.

The expansion brings the total number of production lines at the company’s 80,000 sq m Accolade Park facility to six, and has created 30 new jobs.

As well as Accolade brands including Mud House and Viña Anakena, the site also bottles wine for supermarkets and Treasury Wine Estates.

“Shipping wine into Britain in large volumes is more efficient, reduces fuel use and dramatically cuts carbon emissions,” said Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine & Spirit Trade Association. “Accolade Park is a fantastic example of how the wine industry is investing in the UK, creating new jobs at home and leading the field to find greener ways of working.”

George Eustice, minister of state for farming, who officially opened the new line added: “As one of the largest global importers, exporters and consumers of wine with total trade reaching £2.7 billion in 2014, the UK has become a vital trading centre for the global wine trade and a major gateway for other countries looking to access the European single market.”