Grape expectations

It’s not always essential to be an expert to excel in the wine industry. Chloe Govan reveals why buyers should raise a glass to investing in a vineyard property

- Chloe Govan

Perhaps you’re a passionate wine tourist in France, but back home in Britain you’re cursed with a bad case of the post-Bordeaux blues. Maybe every sip of Sauvignon Blanc activates a dream of making a home among the vines and a life where your favourite drink literally pays for itself.

There’s no reason why this ambition should be a mere fleeting fantasy, even if sceptics dismiss it as a pipe dream. In fact, some expats have launched a thriving wine business without even achieving a single qualification in the field. With well over three million hectares of vineyard space across the EU – much of it in Gironde, southwest France – there are ample opportunities to invest.

NATURAL CHOICE

Caro Feely and her husband Sean, the entrepreneur owners of organic wine farm Château Feely, are just one example of an expat success story in the winemaking industry.

“In 2005 Sean and I gave up our city lives to pursue our dream to create fine organic wines at a dilapidated farmhouse and vineyard we had bought in south-west France,” Caro recounts.