The Shepton Cider Mill is the home of Matthew Clark Cider part of Matthew Clark Brands, which is a division of Constellation Brands Inc, the world’s largest wine company.

The visit was hosted by Maurice Cox, Production Director, together with senior members of his management team.

During an opening presentation Maurice Cox described how Matthew Clark Cider was formed from the purchase of the Shepton Mallet operation in 1994 and Taunton Cider in 1995, as well as the rest of the company history, with Shepton Mallet being the birthplace of Babycham and other fashionable drinks. Between 1994 and 1998 £35 million was spent on the redevelopment of the Shepton Mallet site with the upgrading of all facilities from apple pressing, fermentation, to processing and packaging. This enabled all of the company’s cider manufacturing to be concentrated onto one site, driving a culture of change and continuous improvement linked to the introduction of team working, and replacing manual work and outdated practices with automated processes.

Approximately 1.6 Million Hectolitres of cider are produced per annum on site, being packaged on two PET lines, one can line, one small glass line and a keg line. Product quality and consistency are the guiding principles of the site with training and development of local people having a high profile.

Britt Richards from the Brand Marketing team followed and gave a presentation, which described the Companies core brands, detailing the growth of each brand, its target groups with regional preferences. Such brands as, Blackthorn, Olde English, Diamond White, K, and Special Vat.

Britt described the opportunities available in having a portfolio approach to sales and the advantages by operating in every market sector. It was interesting to note that the Marketing and Sales teams were located on the manufacturing site to promote close cross-functional working.

During the site tour impressive raw material handling and apple pressing facilities (by size and capability) were seen. The site handles 30,000 tonnes of apples per annum, operating 24 hrs per day over a 5-day week. We also viewed the process plant, blending at a rate of 900 hl/hr, and the bottling and packaging area with all five lines operating impressively at full capacity. All lines are equipped with the latest packaging machinery and the more recent PET line has its own bottle blowing operation.

Our thanks are to Maurice Cox and his team for providing an excellent visit and some fine hospitality all rounded off by a substantial buffet lunch and the opportunity to sample the finer qualities of Addlestones draught cider. BBI National Chairman John Yates congratulated Matthew Clark on the high standard of the visit and expressed thanks on behalf of the members present.

Brian Gibbs 27th November 2002