Corking career for fed-up City workers: wine making

CITY workers giving up the daily grind in pursuit of “the good life” have long accepted that doing so means accepting a significant pay cut.

But now they are finding an escape route to the countryside which could make them a fortune: setting up an English vineyard.

Partly fuelled by business experts looking for a change of scenery, a record 64 wine producers and vineyards launched businesses last year – a 73 per cent increase compared to 2015.

Wine producers in England are expected to plant more than one million vines over the next 12 months, resulting in two million more bottles of wine being made each year, according to industry body English Wine Producers.

James Simmonds, a partner at chartered accountants UHY Hacker Young, said: “There is definitely an element of wanting the good life among people who decide to become wine growers.

“It’s an increasingly popular route for fatigued workers looking for change. Often they are well versed with business and, of course, they have to have a love for wine.

“Growers can expect higher than average salaries and the most successful growers can make a fortune. There are big risks too, though. For example, much of this year’s crop has been hit by frost, meaning growers may make little this year. So people need to have money behind them to fall back on if they are going to make it work.”

Award-winning producer Alison Nightingale, who set up the Albourne Estate, Sussex, was once a high-flying marketing guru at Heinz and Nestlé.

But she quit her career to bring up her family and study viticulture and wine making.

“This is not a young person’s game. We’re all ex-something else,” she said.

“You have to have the capital required to set up a vineyard – it costs tens of thousands of pounds to buy the vines – and wait three years before they’re producing grapes.

“I think English wine’s success is partly down to many of the growers having experience in business. They’re not just thinking about how to grow the grapes – they know about sales and branding and how to make it work.”

Today marks the start of English Wine Week and Waitrose reports sales of English rosé are up by 67 per cent, while English fizz is up by 42 per cent.

To meet customer demand and support the growing popularity of English wines, the supermarket has planted 50 per cent more vines at the vineyard on its Leckford Estate, Hants, this year.