City firm hits £9k target to fund canned orange wine

A WINE merchant in Bristol has hit its initial funding target of £9,000 in only three weeks as it seeks to produce England’s first canned orange wine.

Nania’s Vineyard, which operates from an allotment in the Montpelier area of the city, will collaborate with farmers and other small growers from across the country to create three new still wines in aluminium cans.

The business previously said the funds raised would go towards the purchase of six tonnes of grapes.

In addition to the orange wine, the business is also hoping to produce a canned English pinot noir and an elderflower spritzer.

Founders James Bayliss-Smith and Shelley Nania launched the campaign halfway through English Wine Week in late June and said it had been met with an “incredible response”.

Mr Bayliss-Smith said they had received backing from “people we know, and so many we don’t, who’ve found us thanks to social media, newspapers, radio and TV mentions... It’s been fantastic. We’re humbled by the support to help us make these wines.”

It’s made in the manner of red wine, with the skins left in, which gives more flavour, more texture and an often glowing final colour JAMES BAYLISS-SMITH

Explaining the company’s new product, Mr Bayliss-Smith said: “Sometimes also called amber wine, orange wine is skin-contact white wine.

“It’s made in the manner of red wine, with the skins left in, which gives more flavour, more texture and an often glowing final colour.”

The couple got a taste for winemaking in 2017 when they inherited a 50-year-old grapevine in their garden.

Mr Bayliss-Smith made around 30 bottles of orange wine on their allotment during the national lockdown and was inspired to scale up its production by sourcing grapes from other growers and winemakers.

The business previously used grapes produced by another grower in Essex to produce a canned rose spritzer, which garnered sales across the country.

With a week still left to run of its crowdfunding campaign, Nania’s Vineyard is offering perks to more potential backers, including the opportunity to have their house painted with a colourful, animal-inspired mural by Bristol-based artist Alex Lucas.

Ms Lucas, who is known under the alias Lucas Antics, also illustrated the design on Nania’s Vineyard’s wine cans.