Grapes of wrath set vineyard boss against mother
Businessman wins ‘tainted’ licensing victory
The owner of a wine company is likely to be celebrating with a glass or two after winning a business battle –with his own mother.
Henry Boorman runs vineyard and winery Redhill Farm Estate in Wateringbury and has been selling his produce at farmers’ markets across Kent.
However, when he applied to Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council for a licence to sell bottles online a surprise objector came forward – Jan Boorman, who owns the land the business is built on.
At the time, Mrs Boorman said: “I own the property and I don’t wish for alcohol to be sold on my premises. How a son can do this to his mother, I don’t know. It’s very sad.”
But Mr Boorman, whose enterprise covers 20 acres and features seven types of vines of French, German and Swiss ori-
‘How a son can do this to his mother, I don’t know. It’s very sad’
gin, claimed his business had a tenancy agreement, adding: “We have the support of our village and have helped neighbours establish vineyards.”
A council spokesman confirmed on Monday the licence had been granted subject to mandatory conditions under the Licensing Act 2003, including a requirement to ensure online customers were 18 or over.
After the decision, Mr Boorman said: “It’s difficult to grow the business at the moment but we applied for the licence because a number of local customers wanted to buy our wine but we weren’t able to sell it onsite.
“The decision is tainted because of the problems with my mother. We’ve always tried to come to an arrangement but we don’t know what the problem is.”
He said he received permission to “live on the site and use the land rent-free” in January 2014 and, six months later, was shocked to discover his mum was considering selling the farm.
Two wines are already on sale on the Redhill Farm Estate website, a medium-dry white called Bacchus and a fruity rosé called Rondo.
A red and a small amount of sparkling wine will be available soon, made from grapes grown on one of the company’s 27,000 vines, spread over more than 32km of rows.