A SUCCESSFUL Wiltshire vineyard hopes to expand by selling its own wines in an on-site shop.

Paul Dale, owner of The Wylye Valley Vineyard in Crockerton, near Warminster, has lodged a planning application to build the shop due to increased demand.

Mr Dale said: "We've been given quality wine status for two of our wines and the vines are producing well."

English quality wine status is the equivalent of the French appellation controlle. This means that the wine has been through a detailed chemical analysis, had its quality assessed by a professional tasting panel and the winemaker has been vetted by DEFRA.

Mr Dale added: "We are now hoping to take things a stage further although we realise that these things take time.

"I would look to have the shop up and running sometime this year. It's going to be quite a small building just on the side of an existing building."