Seaham GP Graeme Angus wins Wine Challenge award

Nov 4 2009 The Journal

ENGLISH doctor turned master wine-maker Graeme Angus could have incurred the grapes of wrath by beating the French at their own game in their own land.

But despite just securing one of the world’s most prestigious wine awards, the GP, from Seaham, County Durham, insists all is très bien with his native neighbours.

The 43-year-old has won a gold medal for his hearty Grenache Shiraz in the 2009 International Wine Challenge, which claims to be the most rigorously judged wine competition of all.

The life-long Sunderland fan and former Seaham Comprehensive School student moved to the rich wine valleys around Octon, in Southern France, in 2001.

Graeme’s success is all the more remarkable since he sold his first bottles only three years ago and he combines his wine-growing with part-time work as a GP in the village of Nébian. Graeme, a father-of-two, said: “It’s maybe easier for me to relax into making my wine because I still have work as a doctor and I’m under no real financial pressure to get it right every time.

“If there are a few barrels that are not right, that’s OK.

“I’ve found a nice balance in life and wine is still a passion more than a career.

“As for my French friends and neighbours, they have been very supportive and helpful when they didn’t have to be.

“There’s been no ‘the Englishman is getting one over on us’. They just love people making good wines no matter where they are from.”