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SEPTEMBER 2018
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hen Ben and Caroline
Goulden decided to
ditch their London
desk jobs at Sky in 2011
and move to Devon
to plant a vineyard,
they knew absolutely nothing about growing
grapevines or producing wine. Fast forward
seven years and the couple are the proud
owners of 10,000 vines planted on the edge of
Dartmoor and have released two vintages of
their signature sparkling wine, as well as their
first still under the Swanaford Vineyard label.
“It was one of those career cliff jumps that
lots of people dream of doing but not that many
actually do,” laughs Caroline. “Our colleagues at
Sky were pretty surprised, but supportive; they
even joked we should make a programme about it,
but I’m very happy those early days aren’t on film!”
“We’re quite foodie and had been trying
English wines whenever we could,” she
continues. “Plus, we’d noticed more and more
HOW A LONDON COUPLE MOVED
TO DEVON TO PLANT A V I NEYARD –
WI TH NO EXPER I ENCE OF THE
BUS I NESS – AND ARE NOW
DR I NK I NG TO THE I R SUCCESS
W
A vine
romance
to produce up to 15,000 bottles a year, although
the couple don’t push their vines too hard,
preferring quality grapes over quantity.
Talking about their site, which sits on the edge
of the River Teign six miles from Exeter, Ben
explains: “We’ve got 8,000 Champagne-variety
vines planted, those being Chardonnay, Pinot
Noir and Pinot Meunier, while still varieties
Bacchus and Seigerrebe make up the remaining
2,000. We’re definitely a boutique vineyard; 10
acres is tiny in comparison to some of the big
players but we’ve always felt strongly about doing
the work by hand as much as possible.”
This year looks set to be a great one for
Swanaford in terms of harvest size, and other
vineyards across the UK are finding the same.
The growing conditions have been great thanks
to a well-behaved spring and hot summer. A
total change from 2017 when English vineyards
made headlines after a brutal late frost at the
start of May decimated vital first growth across
hundreds of sites.
Looking back at that difficult time, Caroline
recalls: “‘Frostgate’ was awful, so much hard
work and potential gone overnight. But it
wasn’t just England; vineyards across France,
Germany and Italy were affected too, so we took
some heart from the fact that this freeze was
severe, widespread and really couldn’t have been
avoided. We’ve picked ourselves up since then
and are excited by what we can see happening in
the vineyard this year. All of the milestones you
fret about, like bud burst and flowering, have
gone to plan and there’s every chance we’ll have a
headlines about the improving
climate in England for growing
Champagne-variety vines and
the quality of the resulting
wine. It was clear that English
wine was becoming a ‘thing’
and we thought we could
make the land we had work
the hardest by producing a
premium product.”
Deciding to invest in
an English vineyard was a
daunting prospect, with the couple facing big
up-front investment and years of waiting before
the young vines would produce a crop.
“Planting a vineyard from scratch is a long
game and not for the faint-hearted,” admits Ben.
“The key was having a good growing site and we
were lucky enough to have all the elements that
a vine needs at Swanaford, namely free-draining
soil, a sheltered site and maximum hours of
sunlight. Of the 37 acres we had, we planted 10,
investing in good-quality vines from France as
well as some experts to prepare the site and plant
it. Everything else we’ve done ourselves.”
From hand-threading 40 miles of trellising
wire to banging in 1,700 metal posts by hand,
Ben and Caroline have worked hard to keep
costs under control, which is sensible when
figures put vineyard set-up costs at around
£25,000 per hectare. The rewards, however, are
considerable. One hectare can produce between
six and nine tonnes of grapes, and with 2.2
hectares under vine, Swanaford has the capacity
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