Announcing Charlie Brown as Head Winemaker!

After 16 years at the helm as Head Winemaker, Duncan Schwab is passing the mantle to Charlie Brown.

It’s a significant moment for Sandridge Barton, but thankfully not a goodbye. Duncan remains very much part of the estate as our CEO and Wine Director, continuing to guide Sandridge Barton with the knowledge and experience built over more than three decades of making wine here.

For Charlie, this next chapter has been a long time in the making. Charlie first joined Sharpham (Our name for the first 40 years of business) in 2014 as a cellar hand, before becoming Assistant Winemaker in 2020. 

During his time with us, he also followed harvests around the world, working with Smallfry and biodynamic grower Wayne Ahrens in Australia’s Barossa Valley, Mulderbosch in South Africa and Mac Forbes in Australia, as well as supporting an English vintage at Nyetimber. 

Each experience has found its way, in one form or another, into the winemaker Charlie is today. Curious, imaginative and never particularly interested in doing something simply because that’s how it has always been done.

If you know our wines, you’ll already know his influence. Charlie has been instrumental in developing our ‘Don’t Feed the Ponies’ wines, a range that has given us the freedom to experiment and allow wines to develop their own character through careful observation of fermentation rather than manipulation.

Here's what Charlie has to say...

It is a privilege to be the head winemaker at Sandridge Barton. It truly is a magical place to work, and I look forward to continuing the outstanding work Duncan Schwab has done over the past 30 years.

The ethos behind the brand remains the same: we will continue to push ourselves to showcase our unique South Devon terroir through our range of wines, while creating opportunities for people to enter and develop within the wine industry through access to both winery and vineyard work.

I am incredibly exited to build on what has already been achieved and to continue Sandridge Barton to be the very best version of itself.