Lee Dyer, owner of the award-winning Winbirri Vineyard in Surlingham, Norfolk, reported a theft of 500kg of grapes worth about £1,000 on September 22. The stolen fruit could potentially be sold for around £8,000 as wine since it is enough to make approximately 400 bottles. Dyer expressed frustration over the impact this has on his family-run business and mentioned considering security measures like motion-activated cameras. He suspects that thieves intend to use the grapes illegally to produce their own wine due to strict regulations against casual grape sales for winemaking.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On September 22, 500kg of grapes were stolen from the award-winning Winbirri Vineyard in Surlingham, Norfolk. The vineyard's owner, Lee Dyer, stated that the missing fruit was worth approximately £1,000, but thieves could potentially sell them for around £8,000 due to their value as wine, enough to produce about 400 bottles. Dyer expressed frustration over the theft, noting it represents a year's work of labor and dedication for his family-run business. He is now contemplating expensive security measures like installing motion-activated cameras to prevent future incidents. The incident highlights the significant financial impact and emotional toll on small agricultural businesses due to theft.
Written for “Grape Theft From Vineyard” on 2026-10-07,
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No political leaning scored for article 62163 · logged 2026-10-07
A family-run vineyard has been robbed of 500kg of grapes, leaving rows of the field 'completely stripped bare'.
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vineyard → run → field
The grapes were stolen from the 33-acre award-winning Winbirri Vineyard in Surlingham, Norfolk on September 22.
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grapes → steal → September
The missing fruit was worth around £1,000 but the thieves could get around £8,000 for their value as wine as there were enough for 400 bottles, the owner Lee Dyer said.
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owner → miss → bottles
Mr Dyer said: 'We're a family-run business, we all work seven days a week and this is a year's worth of work that we've had to do to get these grapes over the line.
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we → say → line
'They're not an easy crop to grow full stop, no matter what country you're in.
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you → grow → country
You do have to put a lot of work into them and someone then comes along and feels it's ok to come on your property and just take it for themselves.'
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it → have → themselves
The owner added he is now considering implementing costly security measures like motion-activated cameras.
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he → add → cameras
Mr Dyer, who took over the business from his father in 2010, added: 'This is all expense that you really shouldn't have to be going to just because someone feels it's acceptable to come into your property and just take your crop.
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it → take → crop
The missing fruit was worth around £1,000 but the thieves could get around £8,000 for their value as wine, as there was enough for 400 bottles, the owner Lee Dyer said
The family-run vineyard was robbed of 500kg of grapes, leaving rows of the field 'completely stripped bare'
The grapes were stolen from the 33-acre award-winning Winbirri Vineyard in Surlingham, Norfolk on September 22
'
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grapes → miss → September
To take that much fruit I don't think it was a single individual'.
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it → take → fruit
It's not the first incident of theft from the vineyard, as he said in previous years men had been caught on e-bikes and modified trailers with secateurs in hand, but the grapes were stolen 'on a much smaller scale'.
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grapes → say → scale
Mr Dyer noted that people had come to visit just days before the theft saying they wanted to come and pick them to make wine for themselves.
'
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they → note → themselves
It might just be a coincidence but then a few days later after these visits we noticed a couple of the rows had been completely stripped bare,' he said.
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he → notice → rows
Mr Dyer said there are a lot of regulations to sell grapes for wine and suspects the thieves wished to use the stolen goods to make their own wine.
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thieves → say → wine
He said: 'The only use of the crop in this way would be for a group or an individual to make wine in a garage.
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group → say → garage
'You can't rock up to a vineyard and say I've got grapes to sell - a paper trail has to be achieved and negotiations have to be arranged in advance.
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negotiations → rock → advance
Alarm bells would be ringing.
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bells → ring → ?
Wine grapes, especially with Bacchus, don't have enough flesh to be an eating grape.
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grapes → have → flesh
Mr Dyer said there are a lot of regulations to sell grapes for wine and suspects the thieves wished to use the stolen goods to make their own wine
'
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thieves → say → wine
This year, every bottle of wine we produce is from grapes we have grown.
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we → produce → grapes
If we don't have that 500kg of grapes, it's 400 bottles or so of wine we can't produce.
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we → have → wine
We can only harvest this crop twice per year so we can't get that back.'
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we → harvest → that
Winbirri Vineyard was founded in 2007 by local farmer Stephen Dyer, Lee's father, and became the first significant wine-making estate in Norfolk.
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Vineyard → found → Norfolk
Mr Dyer added: 'The most disturbing thing is that out there is somebody who thinks it's okay to walk onto someone else's property, steal the grapes and think there's loads there, it doesn't matter.
'
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it → add → grapes
We work seven days a week and it's a whole family involvement.
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it → work → ?
You go to all that effort growing but at the last minute, someone feels it's fine to nick it all.'
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it → go → it
Norfolk Police confirmed they had received a report of theft.
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they → confirm → theft
The Aporia
