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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Business
Sam Barker

Majestic Wine to open 76 new stores - and will give one customer a year's free booze

Majestic Wine wants to open 76 new stores across the UK - and will give a year's supply of free wine in exchange for tips on good store locations.

John Colley, chief executive of Majestic, said the business is hoping for input from shoppers on its store hunt and will offer a year’s supply of wine to customers that can help source the perfect new site.

Majestic has opened two new stores, in Haywards Heath and Godalming, over the past month.

Colley added: “Responding to consumer demand, we’ve opened two new stores this month, but we aren’t stopping there.

“In addition to the new stores already in our pipeline, we’ve got our eye on a further 76 potential locations across the country and are calling on the UK’s wine lovers to help us find sites so that we can offer more people a place to taste and discover new wines, beers, and spirits with guidance from our expert staff.”

The retailer currently has 201 shops across the UK and employs more than 1,000 staff.

Majestic Wine is giving away 365 days of free booze (PA)

The boss of Majestic said he was optimistic that Brits' love of wine means the firm can weather the cost of living crisis.

The wine retailer was bought by private equity firm Fortress for £95million in 2019.

Majestic has brought back its free wine tasting counters as part of the deal.

Colley said: ""None of us have a crystal ball, but we remain optimistic despite tighter consumer budgets as wine is still something people want to enjoy and savour."

Lovers of British wine have another reason to celebrate this year - as the summer heatwave means a bumper grape crop is likely .

Vintners are predicting the record-breaking dry summer could yield the best plonk the UK has ever produced.

The prolonged period of hot sun means the grapes will be packed with natural sugars and won’t need any artificial sweetening added to them.

But wine lovers will have to wait to taste the 2022 vintage, as the varieties will not be ready to drink for another three years.

Alex Taylor, who runs the Independent English Wine Awards, said: “2018 was celebrated as the ‘vintage of a lifetime’ for growing grapes in the UK, but that year seems unlikely to hold on to the title for long.”

Earlier this month Justin Langham, of the Langham Wine Estate in Dorset, said if August was dry and hot it would mean the perfect crop of grapes.

He added: “Forty years ago you could not have produced the grapes that we have now.

“Due to climate change it will be easier to ferment high quality wine in England.”

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