AN award-winning vineyard has been hailed as a shining light for rural businesses by council bosses.

Braintree Council’s economic development team has been touring the district and recognising some of the area’s best rural businesses.

The team’s latest destination was Toppesfield Vineyard.

The vineyard was started in 2012 as a hobby for owners Jane and Peter Moore, but has since developed in to a fully-fledged business, producing more than 10,000 bottles of award-winning wine each year.

Since starting, the vineyard has notched up a number of accolades, including East Anglia’s Wine of the Year for two of their four vintages to date, a gold award from the 2018 Global Sommelier Wine Awards and silver medals from the Decanter World Wine Awards and Independent English Wine Awards.

The couple’s secret to success lays in the ground their vines grow on as research shows that the valley around Toppesfield was heavily planted with vines in Roman times.

It was that history which gave Jane and Peter the inspiration to create a 21st-century vineyard.

Council economic development boss Tom Cunningham said: “We’re seeing lots of growth of our rural businesses, which is really exciting to see because it allows us to celebrate some of our unique villages such as Toppesfield.

“We look forward to working with the vineyard team and find out how we can support them to become a fantastic destination for visitors as part of our wider tourism plan.”

Ward councillor Richard van Dulken added: “We have some fantastic rural businesses in our district and Toppesfield Vineyard is an excellent example of the community spirit that is the driving force of some really valuable economic growth.

“Not only do businesses such as this one create employment in our villages, but they also promote tourism and a sense of pride in the community.”

Jane has been working with the council on its Young Entrepreneur Programme.

She has been providing business and mentoring to young entrepreneurs and sharing her consultancy experience and skills to support young people’s aspirations to start their own businesses.

She said: “It has been fantastic to work with the council on numerous support schemes for local businesses.

“We are delighted to share our commercial experience and ‘lessons learned’ over the years to help new businesses expand and grow, to increase local employment and generally contribute to our rural community and economy.”