What is the secret behind a successful husband and wife-led business?

Charles Simpson says his partnership with his wife Ruth has been the driving force behind the success of Simpsons Wine Estate

To break ground in any new business venture requires a number of elements to come together to create fertile conditions for growth.

For Charles Simpson of Simpsons Wine Estate it was the partnership with his wife that helped the Canterbury-based firm capitalise on the opportunities as they began to flower in the English wine market.

Charles and his wife Ruth's journey into winemaking began 20 years ago when the pair decided to make a move from their respective corporate and humanitarian careers.

The pair, both based in Baku at the time due to Charles role with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, enrolled in remote learning courses and began plotting how their journey into the wine industry would progress.

Charles said:  "We were a young married couple away from family and friends and thinking about what we really wanted to do.

"We wanted to do something together and wine kept on gravitating to the top as it is one of those rare products where there is an agricultural dimension, there is a science dimension and there are also the business disciplines be it export, logistics and marketing.

"We were very enamoured by the modern winemaking techniques taking place in Australia and New Zealand and decided to pack in our jobs and go on a global due diligence tour of the wine producing regions of the world."

High land costs in Australia drive Simpsons back to Europe

Their initial hopes of setting up a vineyard in Australia were stifled by the high land costs and the pair decamped back to Europe to consolidate their thinking.

Instead of heading back to their London flat to crystallise their plans, Charles and Ruth decided to immerse themselves in a French region that had caught their attention during their research.

Charles said:  "What we couldn't get over was how expensive land was in Australia compared to what you would pay in Europe because the industry was up and coming and everyone was trying to get into it and no one was trying to get out of it.

"Rather than returning to London, we went to a wine producing area in France called the Languedoc.

“The appellation rules in the Languedoc had been relaxed so rather than being dictated to by the region as to what you could plant and what wines you could make it was very much down to you.

"We saw about 40 properties before settling on a 16th century chateau called Domaine de Sainte Rose. We have now owned this property for 20 years, it is where we started our wine journey and made all of our mistakes."

With their French vineyard established and turning a profit, Charles and his wife set their sights on expanding their investments beyond France and looked to the Kent coast for a suitable property.

Charles said: "It was 2012 and we were 10 years into the French project and selling bottles to 14 markets around the world. We were in our mid 40s and thinking what we should do next.

"We didn't want to invest in any more land in France as we didn't want to become exposed in one country so we thought we would buy a bit of land that we don't have to do anything with but that could be suitable for viticulture in the future."

The result of the search was the 90-acre Simpsons Wine Estate on the outskirts of Canterbury which has gone from strength to strength since it began operations in 2012. 

Land investment will drive expansion of still and sparkling wines

The couple have also completed the purchase of a further 22 acres and plan to increase production of still and sparkling wines on the site to 300,000 bottles a year.

Their English wine has won global plaudits, with the vineyard's Roman Road English Chardonnay ranked amongst the top 50 wines in the world in the 2020 Decanter World Wine Awards.

Charles said that the partnership with his wife has been key as has been a recognition of the strength of each other's skill sets and an early appreciation that, as an entrepreneur, you can't do everything yourself.

"A lot of people say that they could never work with their partner due to the pressures that business throws at you, he said.

"What is unique to Ruth and I is that we have very different skill sets and we were very much one in terms of the partnership.

"As an entrepreneur, you can't do everything and it is important to recognise your core competencies early and hire expertise around them.

"We have never been trained in grape growing and winemaking but we do have skills in business management, finance and marketing and communications and this is where we spend most of our time."

Early mentoring helps sharpen focus on future growth

Charles said that having an early mentor in his winemaking career helped to sharpen his focus and provided support at the start of his entrepreneurial journey which for many is a lonely experience.

He said: "Early on in our French career we met this well-known French producer called James Herrick who was keen to help a young couple out and became an unpaid consultant.

"James would phone me early in the morning and say 'you're on the vineyard aren't you? and ask why we weren't selling our wine as only me and Ruth could do that.

"I said I wanted to learn the industry and it was 6am and who is selling wine right now? He replied, they’re open for business in Japan!"

Keeping a core focus is key in any business especially as the economy heads into a recession.

James said: "You need to know what your business is and what it's not as it is really easy for business people to get distracted and shift away from their core business.

"We have been asked why don't you make cider, beer or build a restaurant? However, Ruth and I have always been focused on our core business and what we are good at.

"There are only so many hours in the day and you should be spending them on your core business not being taken on a wild goose chase which may add a little bit of value but take a huge amount of time."