THE world's biggest filler of mini wine bottles has won government funding to boost production at its County Durham headquarters.

Greencroft Bottling in Annfield Plain, Stanley will recruit 25 new workers before Christmas to join a production line that can turn out 25,000 bottles of wine and spirits every hour. In total, 80 staff will be recruited over the next three years as the business targets an additional 8m turnover by June 2012.

The bottling factory, which is part of the Lanchester Group, is among the most modern in Europe and recently became the first facility of its kind to take delivery of a state of the art wine scanner. The £85,000 machine made by Danish firm FOSS can check the chemical and alcohol content of wine samples in one and half minutes - a task that used to take half an hour. Using such cutting edge technology means the wine leaves the site in better condition than when it arrived and has ensured the business is struggling to keep pace with demand. An award this week of about £750,000 from the Regional Growth Fund will be used to add a fourth bottling production line to help supply some of the countrys leading wine brands.

"Its one thing to have the latest bit of technology but a business is nothing without great people, " said Tony Cleary who launched the business empire with his wife Veronica from the couples front room in 1980. "We have an incredible team right across the business. Without them we would be nothing."

A 215-strong workforce is employed by the Group that includes wine importing and wholesaling business Lanchester Wines, Lanchester Gifts which makes wine gift boxes, and a property firm which runs the Greencroft Estate. The recent acquisition of Irish online company First4 has added a fresh fruit basket and hamper line. Mr Cleary said: "One of our strengths is that we are not a one trick pony. When one side of the business flags a bit, like we have seen of late with the gifts, other parts such as bottling take off. We are not immune to downturns, but having a mixed portfolio certainly helps us to weather the storm better than most."

Having turned over £27m this year, the Group expects to hit £35m next year. The bottling business did £6.2m three years ago and could reach £22m next year.

The site fills more 187ml quarter-sized wine bottles - the type commonly served on airlines and trains - than any other site in the world. At peak production 1.85 million bottles of all sizes roll of the production in a week. Mr Cleary added: "The business is expanding at a rate of knots but this is about far more than a numbers game. It is about passion. You can only drive one car and eat three meals a deal. We re-invest profits into the business to make it the best it can possibly be."