‘Serendipity’, the term coined by the Gothic novelist and gardener Horace Walpole, describes an unexpected and welcome outcome that happens by chance. It’s a word that aptly describes the experience of Lance and Caroline Whitehead, owners of Calancombe Estate. As Lance says, “I have to admit that setting up a vineyard in South Devon was never part of some grand strategic plan. It really happened rather by accident.” 14 years ago, looking for a holiday home, they found a cottage which was attached to a derelict farm. At the time, they were living near Dunsfold in Surrey and they sought a holiday cottage in the West Country with plans to settle there eventually. The property they found was a small old stone cottage that came with three restored barns. Caroline wondered about the feasibility of planting a vineyard, thinking that the site and soils were ideal. Accordingly, Pinot Noir went in the ground (a year after they moved in), closely followed by Bacchus. Duncan Schwab, who ran nearby Sharpham Winery at the time said that they were on to a good thing.
Soon the second half of the farm became available to buy and acquiring it doubled the estate from roughly 30 acres to almost 60 acres. Planting another three vineyards, including the introduction of Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Madeleine Angevine and Pinot Précoce, took them to around 23,000 vines. On top of this they expanded the orchards that they had established at the beginning of the venture to around 1,600 traditional cider-apple trees. Damsons, blackcurrants, plums and mirabelles followed as well.
Gin is a personal passion of Lance’s. Soon after they built a distillery and made their first gin, they were encouraged to enter the 2018 Craft Distilling Expo Gin of the Year. They had reasonably low expectations but they won the competition. That gave them confidence to take viniculture seriously. Next came their own winery which was constructed by a local contractor. This route was not all plain sailing (an appropriate metaphor because Lance loves yachting); they have had to cope with griping neighbours unhappy with the development to pettifogging council officials who raised an objection to the making of wine. Another example of the Whitehead’s independence was the self-building of a visitor centre in the winery. Then, in 2023, Calancombe was announced as Small Visitor Attraction of the Year for Devon. They had apparently been visited anonymously by the judges of the regional tourism awards.
Despite all this success, they have reached what Lance calls an “inflection point”. He wants to make the assets they have already created work much harder commercially. After 14 years of funding everything themselves, they are now considering outside equity investment for the first time. Sales need professionalising, the winery needs to be more efficient at the same time as expanding, there is the prospect of doing contract winemaking and there are several as yet untapped opportunities on the hospitality front, including offering glamping and accommodating weddings. Crowdfunding is a sensible way to finance these developments. Lance intends to launch a campaign in the autumn with very generous offers in return for investments. As an illustration, the minimum stake of £250 would in return offer a 10% lifetime discount and a £25 product voucher. £20,000 would benefit you to the tune of a 30% lifetime discount and a 25% product voucher. About 100 people have already expressed an interest in the scheme.
South of the A38 near Modbury, Chalancombe’s vineyard faces south and is on shillet (a sedimentary rock akin to slate) which drains very well. In 2024 they didn’t make any wine and I reassured Lance that they were far from alone. 2025 had good growing conditions but life in a vineyard is never simple. In Lance’s words it was a “recovery year” owing to mildew from the previous year. In 2026 they missed the late frost and they have benefited from the dry, sunny and hot summer without the extreme heat that some vineyards have suffered; the maritime climate (with sea on both sides of the county) has helped temper the worst of those effects. The quality should be outstanding and they hope to garner their best harvest yet.
My favourites of the wines Lance sent to me were the Pinot Gris 2023 and the Blanc de Noirs 2018. The Gris has that authentic spicy character I get with a lot of Alsatian Pinot Gris along with a more typical English sherbet note. Additional flavours of lime, green olive and mint make for a winning varietal. The Blanc de Noirs still has plenty of ageing left to do but at this stage shows clean notes of pear (perhaps surprisingly), ginger and the expected red fruit (in this case, cranberry and pomegranate).
The plan is to make Calancombe, in Lance’s words, a “larger, more profitable, and more resilient business without losing the quality, provenance and character that made us want to create it in the first place”. I, and no doubt Lance and Caroline, will drink to that.
All photos with thanks to Calancombe Estate
