A new demographic insight tool developed by Knight Frank’s viticulture consultancy is helping one of the UK’s largest wine producers unlock new growth opportunities in direct-to-consumer sales, tourism and winery site development.
MDCV farms over 2,000 acres across the South East, including the organically managed 1,300-acre Silverhand Estate in Kent – the UK’s largest single vineyard, with 600 acres under vine. It is also the first vineyard in the UK to achieve carbon negative status without offsetting. With all vines now in the ground to support long-term production, the business is focused on how it reaches customers, enhances the visitor experience and builds a brand that reflects its values of sustainability and local provenance.
“I was always interested in something that could give us clarity on where our customers are, where our competition is and what else exists in the surrounding area,” said Gary Smith, CEO at MDCV UK. “This report has helped on all three fronts. It’s changed how we’re approaching both short-term visitor engagement and longer-term investment.”
Knight Frank’s mapping platform combines data from Experian, TripAdvisor, the Department for Transport and Royal Mail to build a detailed picture of the people most likely to buy wine direct from producers, and how to reach them effectively. That includes identifying affluent households with spending habits aligned to premium food and drink, locating high-traffic routes for roadside signage and mapping overlapping restaurant and hotel hotspots for targeted on-trade development.
“It’s not just a snapshot of where people live,” said Smith. “It’s what they care about, what they value and how far they’re willing to travel for the right experience. That insight has made us more ambitious. It’s genuinely opened my eyes to how big we could go with our plans.”
For MDCV, the insight has come at a pivotal time as the group begins developing its tourism offering and exploring potential sites for a flagship winery. “We’re in the process of acquiring winery sites for a larger tourism and wine experience, and what this report gave us was real clarity. It helped us think more strategically, not just about where to locate it, but what kind of offer it should include, and how we can make it truly unique.”
The report segmented catchment areas by travel time – 10, 30 and 60 minutes – and highlighted over 670,000 high-value target households within an hour’s drive of Silverhand. It also pinpointed key commuter towns and tourist centres across Kent, Surrey and South East London, and recommended locations for signage based on vehicle traffic volumes of up to 130,000 cars per day.
Ed Mansel-Lewis, Head of Viticulture and Partner at Knight Frank, said, “This tool was built specifically to help producers grow cellar door and direct-to-consumer sales. We profile the types of consumers most likely to support local producers and spend on premium products and then we show you where they live, where they go out to eat, where they stay overnight and which roads they drive along. It turns good intentions into a precise strategy, and that’s what makes it so powerful.”
Smith agreed. “Our ambition has always been to encourage people to choose a local, sustainable product – to drink English, drink local, drink sustainably,” he said. “We’re confident in the quality of what we produce, but insight like this helps ensure that effort reaches the right audience. It’s brought a new level of focus to our planning and given the team a clearer sense of where the greatest opportunities lie.”
He added that some of the insights challenged initial assumptions. “We thought our core market was very local, but actually, we’re in reach of a much larger, more valuable audience than we expected. That’s changed how we think about everything from event planning to signage, and how we build our long-term hospitality offer.”
Mansel-Lewis said the timing is right. “As production across the English wine industry continues to expand, the real challenge now is sales and making sure demand keeps pace.
“Producers are recognising that good wine isn’t enough on its own. They also need a clear plan to reach the right customers and deliver experiences that bring them back. That’s where this tool comes in. It turns intention into action and helps bring commercial strategy in line with the scale of what’s being produced. We see this as one of the most important – and exciting – problems to help solve.”
MDCV will now use the mapping report to measure performance against key commercial goals, including visitor numbers, average basket size and conversion rates. “We’ll treat it as a baseline,” said Smith. “If in six or twelve months we’re seeing stronger footfall, better engagement, higher spend, it’ll be because we’ve used this insight to target the right people. And from there, we’ll build again.”
Knight Frank’s demographic mapping service is now available to vineyard owners, new entrants and investors. For more information, contact Ed Mansel-Lewis at edwardmansel.lewis@knightfrank.com.