Defined Wine Ltd

Defined Wine Ltd: A Contract Winemaker Built Around English Wine Producers

Defined Wine Ltd is not a vineyard, and it does not bottle its own label. It is, by its own description, a contract-only winery - a business set up specifically to make wine for other people. The entire company exists to take grapes from growers and turn them into finished, labelled, saleable wine under the brands of its clients. Everything about Defined Wine - its equipment, its people, its two production sites - is structured around that single purpose.

Founded in late 2018 by Henry Sugden after a career that took in the British Army, small companies in Kenya and the City, the winery takes its name from the service it sells: helping clients define the style of wine they want to make. Today the business operates from two locations, one in Kent and one in East Anglia, and supports an unusually international team of winemakers, technicians and cellar hands drawn from the UK, France, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Brazil and beyond.

A winery with no vineyards and no brands of its own

The defining feature of Defined Wine is what it does not do. The company holds no vineyards and produces no wine under its own name. That absence is deliberate. By staying out of the retail market, Defined Wine has no competing brand to protect, and its entire focus can be placed on the growers and producers who use its services.

As the company puts it: "We are therefore totally focussed on supporting them and working with them to define their style of wine and involving them (as they want) in winemaking decisions. Hence the name: 'Defined Wine'." Approach and equipment are chosen to back that up - modern technology, experienced winemakers and full traceability through a dedicated winery software system.

Two production sites: Kent and East Anglia

Defined Wine operates from two wineries, one on each side of the country, both deliberately positioned close to England's main fruit-growing regions.

• Kent winery: Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bridge, near Canterbury, Kent, CT4 5HL. The site is part of Highland Court Farm (also referred to as Canterbury Business Park). On arrival, visitors are directed to keep left of ISS and look for the Defined Wine signage.
• East Anglia winery: Holton Hall Farm, Holton St Mary, Suffolk, CO7 6NN.

All grape deliveries and laboratory samples must be sent to the Kent site. The Kent location is also conveniently placed for visitors, being close to the village of Bridge, which is home to well-known hospitality names including The Bridge Arms, The Pig at Bridge Place and Tadpole Tearoom.

From crate to case: the full range of services

The company's core offering is a complete "crate to case" contract winemaking service. Clients deliver grapes in crates and receive finished cases of labelled, ready-to-ship wine at the other end. That end-to-end service covers still, sparkling and natural wines, and Defined Wine will also deliver any individual element of the process as a standalone service.

Pressing

Defined Wine runs six presses across both sites and operates two shifts during harvest to make sure fruit is pressed as soon as it is ready to pick. Temperature-controlled tanks range in size from 1,000 litres to 20,000 litres, giving the winery the capacity to handle a wide spectrum of client sizes and styles.

Filtration

Filtration is handled by a Pall cross-flow filter, chosen for its gentle handling of wine and minimal losses, supported by a hybrid filter for smaller batches where cross-flow is uneconomic.

Riddling and disgorging

For traditional-method sparkling wine, the winery runs multiple gyropalettes and can disgorge half-bottles, standard 75cl bottles and magnums. Jetting and fill-height detection are used to ensure consistency and quality control on every disgorging run.

Bottling and labelling

The bottling lines handle both still and sparkling wines. Still wines can be closed with cork, screw cap or Vinolok glass stoppers; sparkling wines can be sealed with a bidule and crown cap. Foils, capsules, and front, back and neck labels can all be applied in-line.

Temperature-controlled bonded storage

Defined Wine provides temperature-controlled, secure bonded storage, with stores held separately so that wines going through secondary fermentation can be held at a different temperature from still wines.

Cold stabilisation

Cold stabilisation is offered two ways: using KHT (potassium hydrogen tartrate) with insulated tanks to chill wines down, or via CMC (carboxymethylcellulose). A portable chiller unit is available to cold-stabilise smaller volumes.

Wine and grape trading

Beyond production, Defined Wine also helps clients source wine and grapes through its sister company, Wine and Grape Trading. Clients looking to buy bulk or bottled wine - or to sell it - are directed there in the first instance.

Full in-house laboratory services

A modern winery needs a modern lab, and Defined Wine's facility is built around an OenoFoss analyser for FTIR-based wine and juice analysis. Supporting equipment includes a dissolved oxygen and dissolved CO₂ meter (Anton Parr CarboxQC), a spectrophotometer, heat bath, centrifuge and full wet-chemistry capability for sulphur analyses by aspiration.

The lab offers the following analyses on grapes, juices and wines:

• ABV (Alex 500 or distillation)
• pH / TA (pH meter and titration)
• Free and total SO₂ (aspiration method)
• Glucose / Fructose (FTIR or enzymatic)
• Malic acid (enzymatic)
• Gluconic acid (enzymatic)
• Acetaldehyde (enzymatic)
• Volatile acidity (distillation)
• YAN (FTIR)
• Protein stability (heat bath / NTU)
• Bentonite trials
• Calcium stability
• Cold stability (conductivity or freeze test)
• Filterability (fouling index)
• Dissolved oxygen and dissolved CO₂ (Anton Parr CarboxQC)
• Disgorging trials
• Copper trials
• Pressure (aphrometer)
• Yeast count and viability

Commonly ordered test bundles include basic wine and juice, pre- and post-bottling, tirage, disgorging, and a full lab report with results returned within two working days. The complete schedule of fees is published in the Defined Wine Contract Lab Work Price List 2025 (PDF).

Sustainability at the core of operations

Defined Wine was one of the first English wineries to be accredited to the Wine GB Sustainability Scheme. Where the grapes a client sends in come from accredited vineyards, those clients are entitled to use the Sustainable Wine Scheme logo on their own labels and marketing material - adding a credible sustainability story to the finished bottle without any extra paperwork for the grower.

An experienced, international team

Winemaking at Defined Wine is led by a small group of senior figures with credentials from some of the most respected wine regions in the world.

• Henry Sugden - CEO. Founded Defined Wine in late 2018 after earlier careers in the British Army, working with small companies in Kenya and a spell in the City.
• Nick Lane - Director of Winemaking. Previously winemaker at Cloudy Bay in New Zealand and five years with Moët and Dom Pérignon in Champagne, Nick joined Defined Wine during the 2020 harvest.
• Poppy Pease-Watkin - Winemaker. Holds an MSc in Viticulture and Oenology from Plumpton College and has completed vintages in Australia, California, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK before joining for the 2019 harvest.
• Nora Leitz - Winemaker, East Anglia. Originally studied viticulture and oenology in Vienna before completing her degree in New Zealand. She spent five years as a winemaker at Indevin, New Zealand's premier contract winery, before joining Defined Wine in July 2023.

They are supported by a wider team that includes Operations Winemaker Janneke van der Merwe, Technical Winemaker Cristiano Zorzan, Assistant Winemaker Isabella Ching, the two Cellar Supervisors (Greg Harries in East Anglia, Pete Robinson in Kent), a full cellar crew, a laboratory team led by Lab Supervisor Irena Petsova, plus production, accounts, stock and sales staff.

What Defined Wine does not do

Because it is a contract-only operation, Defined Wine does not:

• sell wine under its own label;
• open its cellar doors for retail tastings or tours;
• operate a public shop or visitor centre;
• run a calendar of consumer-facing events.

Anyone visiting the site specifically to taste or buy wine made by Defined Wine itself will leave disappointed - but that is by design. Every tonne of fruit and every bottle the team produces is made for a third-party brand.

Press, media and industry recognition

Defined Wine's unusual business model has attracted consistent media interest since launch:

• The Buyer, July 2025 - coverage of the London Wine Fair and Defined Wine's role uniting English producers.
• Vineyard Magazine, September 2025 - feature on how vineyards define wine style.
• Fruit & Vine, November 2024 - coverage of the East Anglia winery opening.
• The Times, September 2023 - feature on the so-called "Kent Claret" project.
• Decanter, June 2023 - coverage of Jackson Family Wines' major expansion into the English wine industry.
• The Buyer, June 2023 - Henry Sugden on Defined Wine's bespoke winemaking services for English producers.
• Harpers, June 2023 - profile of Defined Wine.
• The Drinks Business, March 2021 - feature on growing demand for English contract winery services.
• Harpers archive piece on the move of the former Dom Pérignon winemaker to Kent.

Working with Defined Wine

The company operates a transparent pricing structure, with clear costings for every service backed by full traceability through its winery software system. Harvest cover runs from early September to mid-November. Seasonal cellar and laboratory staff are recruited each year, with enquiries going to carole@definedwine.com. The team is reachable at definedwine.com/contact-us.

Funding and infrastructure

The purchase and installation of Defined Wine's contract winery equipment has been part-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, supporting the build-out of the modern pressing, filtration, riddling, disgorging, bottling and laboratory capability that underpins every service the company sells today.