A new generation is taking the reins at a South Hams vineyard as Sandridge Barton marks 45 years of winemaking.

Charlie Brown has been appointed Head Winemaker at the Dart Valley estate, taking over from Duncan Schwab, who remains Chief Executive.

The change comes as the vineyard enters its autumn harvest after an unusually hot summer, and the estate prepares to mark its 45th year of winemaking on the site.

Mr Brown joined the estate in 2014 as a Cellar Hand and became Assistant Winemaker in 2020.

His appointment puts him at the helm of the winery as the industry adapts to changing growing conditions and the expanding English wine sector.

Over his career, Brown has harvested in Australia and South Africa, including time at low-intervention vineyard Smallfry in the Barossa Valley and at Mulderbosch in South Africa.

He returned permanently to England in 2019 and worked on an English vintage at Nyetimber.

At Sandridge Barton, the former home of Sharpham wines before the family-run estate took over in 2022, Brown has been active in developing experimental and single-vineyard wines.

He played a key role in the estate's ‘Don’t Feed the Ponies’ range, which takes a low-intervention approach to winemaking, and pioneered its Single Vineyard range, intended to reflect differences in the estate’s soils and growing conditions.

He has also worked on changes to the estate’s sparkling wines.

Mr Brown said the appointment was an opportunity to build on the work started by Mr Schwab.

“It is a privilege to be the Head Winemaker at Sandridge Barton,” he said.

“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.”

The change comes as this year’s grape harvest gets under way, with picking scheduled to continue into early October.

The estate said the summer had been unprecedentedly hot, bringing renewed focus on the relationship between weather and viticulture.

Harvest will be followed by the return of Devon Nouveau in November, a young wine produced to celebrate the latest vintage.

The vineyard will also open its doors to the community during the harvest period on October 3, with visitors able to take part in a community pick, a free tour of the winery and live music onsite.

For an estate celebrating almost half a century of winemaking, this year's harvest marks both a continuation and a change of direction.

The foundations laid over 45 years remain, but responsibility for the next chapter of production has passed to a winemaker who began his career on the same estate more than a decade ago.

Mr Brown said he was “incredibly excited” to build on what had already been achieved and continue developing the vineyard and winery.

Sandridge Barton’s 45th year comes after the former Sharpham wine operation moved into its new home at the estate in 2022.