A Sustainable Wine Business

Because being carbon neutral is just the beginning

We believe being Carbon Neutral is just the beginning.

We believe every business has a duty of care to minimise its impact on the environment, which is why Lanchester Wines and the wider Lanchester Group, which includes Greencroft Bottling, has worked tirelessly over the last decade to ensure sustainability is at our core.

There is, unfortunately, no ‘one size fits all’ solution when it comes to sustainability and so we’ve invested considerably to identify which changes we can make to lessen our effect on our planet.

Our aspiration is to become a thought leader and sharer of best practice. As a privately owned, family business we are in a largely unique position which enable us to experiment and take risks in order to find new solutions, and we want others to emulate our successes – we believe what is good for the environment is good for us all.

 

Our business’ greatest opportunity to make a change is through minimising our reliance on fossil fuels. As such, we’ve invested around £13million in renewable heat and energy generation at our sites across the North East of England and today our business is powered almost completely by renewable wind and solar energy. As a business, we continue to make long-term sustainability decisions that go beyond both legislation and common practice.

Our three wind turbines produce up to 5 million kWh (kilowatt hours) of clean, renewable electricity per year, which we use to run operations at our Greencroft Estate (including Lanchester Wines and Greencroft Bottling).

We have a 41 kilowatt solar array on the roof of Lanchester Wines’ office complex, which is calculated to produce enough clean electricity to cover our day-to-day use. The chemical reactions which occur within solar panels are more efficient at cooler temperatures so County Durham’s bright and sunny, yet rather chilly, weather is perfect for our solar panels.

We have installed 3 Megawatts of solar panels on the roof of Greencroft Two which can create around 2.8m kilowatt hours of electricity per year.

Greencroft Two - picture taken December 2022

At our Gateshead facilities, we are pioneering advanced heat pump technology that harnesses water from disused mine workings to provide a low-carbon, reliable heat source for our warehouses. Our two open-loop water source heat pumps have a combined capacity of 4MW and currently heat over 33,000m² of warehouse space, maintaining an ambient temperature ideal for wine storage. As we continue to refine and develop the technology, we are exploring opportunities to extend its reach further across our operations.

Working in collaboration with organisations including the Mining Remediation Authority, Environment Agency and academic partners, we were the first private business in the UK to draw heat from disused coal mines

Working in Partnership with the Mining Remediation Authority

We are proud to be working closely with the Mining Remediation Authority to unlock the potential of mine water geothermal energy. As the first private business in Great Britain to harness heat from disused coal mines, our Gateshead warehouses are heated using low-carbon energy drawn from underground mine workings.

Our long-term partnership has played a key role in shaping the UK’s Heat Access Agreement, creating a clearer and more accessible framework for other businesses looking to adopt this technology. By combining operational experience with collaborative innovation, this approach helps remove barriers and supports the wider adoption of sustainable, scalable heat solutions.

By combining operational experience with collaborative innovation, this framework removes barriers to access while supporting wider adoption of sustainable heat solutions.

This partnership represents an important milestone not only for Lanchester Wines but for the broader industry, demonstrating how businesses and the Government can work together to unlock new sources of renewable energy.

This pioneering approach not only supports our own carbon reduction ambitions but also demonstrates how former mining infrastructure can be repurposed to deliver scalable clean energy solutions.

Read more in the official government announcement

Image: Sustainable Wine Supply

Sustainable Wine Supply

We actively seek business partners and suppliers who share our vision to proactively improve their sustainability. Each of our wine suppliers has adapted to their environment and social surroundings, and used the resources available to them.

Download our guide to Lanchester Wines’ sustainable bulk wine supply LanchesterWinesBulkSustainability 

Read more about our commitment to working with sustainable producers here.

Looking to the Future

Our business continues to grow and our sister company, Greencroft Bottling is housed in the Greencroft Two building, which is one of the world’s most sustainable wine bottling facilities, powered by renewable wind and solar power.

*drone footage and photography courtesy of Alan Armstrong, Director of Quality at Greencroft Bottling

Find out more

All energy is precious, so we work hard to save it too.

Insulation

Greencroft Two incorporates leading-edge dual insulation and photovoltaic panels. Developed by Kingspan and installed by SCJ Renewables, the Panels have a U-Value of 0.12, as does insulation fitted on the walls, which is the highest standard of insulation making Greencroft Two virtually airtight.

Lights

LED and low energy lighting projects now cover our lighting requirements

Movement-sensitive lighting areas have been installed throughout company-owned buildings to establish the most effective solution for our operations. Combined, this has resulted in around £40,000 savings a year

Warehouses

Over 18,580m2 (200,000 ft2) of additional 240mm roof insulation (along with the existing 120mm) totaling 360mm

Warehouse roofs double or tripled skinned (depending on the property)

These provide year-round protection from extremes of temperatures, negating the need for additional heating and cooling

Office

Our windows are high tech glass which helps us to control the temperature, keeping us cool in summer and warm in winter

We heat and cool the building using air source heat pumps which extract the heat from the air outside

Our lighting is power-saving and automatic, turning itself off when a room is not in use, thus conserving energy

Since their construction, the three turbines at our County Durham site have generated enough electricity to power around 3,500 average 3-bedroom homes for 3 years.