The Buyer | Lanchester Wines

We are a sustainable wine company and strongly believe it’s the duty of every business to preserve our planet, which is why we’ve invested over £13million in developing clean, renewable energy and heat generation for our offices and warehouses to greatly reduce our business’ carbon footprint.

Our four wind turbines produce around 5.5million kWh (kilowatt hours) of clean, renewable electricity per year.
We use around 42% of this electricity to run operations at our Greencroft Estate (including Lanchester Wines and Greencroft Bottling ) with the remaining electricity – enough to power 800 three bedroom homes – feeding into the National Grid for use within our local community.
We are pioneering world-changing heat pump technology using water from disused mines at our warehouses in Gateshead. The first heat pump system of its kind in the UK, this is set to revolutionise how clean technology can be used in former mining areas across the world.

Lanchester Wines achieves BRC accreditation for storage and distribution

Lanchester Wines has received AA rating from the BRCGS (Brand Reputation Compliance Global Standard, formerly the British Retail Consortium) – an accreditation that ensures the quality and safety of products during their storage and distribution throughout the supply chain.

Our warehouses hold in excess of 37,000,000 bottles and manage 1,800 wine pallet movements per day across both its own brands and those of its bonded warehouse customers. These warehouses also hold all wine bottled at sister business Greencroft Bottling, which is also BRCGS AA+ rated (‘+’ signifies an unannounced audit). The BRCGS accreditation also stipulates all Lanchester Wines’ logistical suppliers must conform to BRCGS standard processes, which provides further peace of mind for customers who entrust their wine to the two businesses.

The business operates over 1million square foot of bonded warehouse across five sites.

Lanchester Wines handles 1,800 pallet movements every day across its business

The accreditation process took nine months and was overseen by Lanchester Wines’ logistics manager, Richard Lewin. He says: “Effectively, this accreditation ensures health and safety for the product as we must conform at every stage, from the initial receipt of goods, through processing and until the products leave our care.

“Most of the processes involved in our BRCGS accreditation were already in place however the certification now means these processes are formally acknowledged which is a testament to the hard work of our team.”

The BRCGS Global Standard for Storage and Distribution covers all activities that can affect the safety, quality and legality of food, packaging and consumer products in storage and the process of distribution; as well as activities provided by contracted storage and distribution services. Having BRCGS Storage and Distribution certification can help logistics and warehousing companies to access new markets and win business with food manufacturers and retailers/ supermarkets.