The Dordogne region

Domaine de Beauregard
Robin Ruffler and his family were living in Surrey when they took a family trip to the Dordogne in 2004 and, by chance, saw a vineyard for sale. As Robin says, “out of curiosity, we drove to this property and…the romance set in. Maybe just maybe we could make this work for us!”

And did you eventually invest in a vineyard?
Robin Ruffler: We went back later to see the vineyard on a more practical level and realised that it wasn’t for us but we decided to carry on looking. We found “Domaine de Beauregard” in Villefranche-de-Lonchat. It has been a vineyard for over 30 years, has a good reputation and was already producing good quality wine.

This place seemed like the one for us. It had 13½ hectares of vines within grounds of nearly 55 hectares. The house was in a good state and above all liveable. All the equipment for making the wine was in good condition, and an added bonus was that it had another self-contained 3-bed room house on site which we now rent as a “gîte”.

Why did you decide to move to France?
Robin Ruffler: Back in the UK, I used to work in a family business, but always searched for something more inspiring. I left for France in March 2005 and started working with the previous owner. The rest of the family followed 2 weeks later.

Looking back, do you think you made the right decision?
Robin Ruffler: We are now in our second year of pruning, treating, harvesting and general working of the vineyard. It’s been hard work, learning every day – taking one step forward and then about 10 steps back all the time. We have hand harvested some of the grapes ourselves and brought in the neighbours to help and even friends who were visiting on holiday or who live locally. It has been hard work but really good fun too.

What is next?
Robin Ruffler: We have now been here a year and a half and have decided to turn the vineyard into an organic vineyard. Yet another learning curve! We have a lot of work to do in order to receive our organic certificate, which will be in 3 years, but we think it is necessary to try and give something back to the earth which is giving us so much.

Tell us about the French way of life:
Robin Ruffler: It was quite an experience when we first arrived! Although our French is better now, we still have plenty of misunderstandings and some hilarious moments when we use the wrong word in a conversation. The locals have been very kind to us and have a lot of patience when talking to us. Village life is a lot different to what we were used to but we are really enjoying every moment. We’ve discovered that there is a very large English community in the area.

What can we wish you for the future?
Robin Ruffler: We plan on staying here for many years and aim to produce a good quality organic wine for a reasonable price. The Vineyard is situated just outside Villefranche-de-Lonchat we would love for anyone to pay us a visit, to meet us and of course to taste the wine!

Domaine de Beauregard - 24610 Villefranche-de-Lonchat .