Would-be wine buff leaves bad taste

Pursuing a dream to become a winemaker in South Africa has yielded more than just sour grapes for a British businessman who now faces fraud charges.

Cloudy residue: Tony Hindhaugh, British winemaker. Picture: Sunday Sun newcastle

Clearing the palate: Lizette Veldsman, manager of Eaglevlei wine farm, says things are going better now. Picture Ambrose Peters

Tony Hindhaugh quit his pub chain management job in England in 2005 and settled in Stellenbosch where he was filmed in a 10-part documentary, The Grape Escape, while learning to run a wine estate in a series screened on the Discovery Channel.

Hindhaugh left his family behind when he settled at Eaglevlei where, despite several setbacks, he produced premium red and white wines and became an overnight celebrity.

His wines, including pinotage and merlot, were sold at Sainsbury’s in the UK and Superquinn in Ireland. One was named Beccy’s Blush after his daughter, who liked the colour pink.

But after the TV cameras stopped rolling, Eaglevlei’s investors — who had reportedly ploughed £1-million into the project — raised concerns over how the business was being run. Hindhaugh left the wine estate under a cloud in 2007.

On Wednesday, the 39-year-old will appear in the Newcastle Magistrate’s Court in the UK on charges of fraud and forgery. Northumbria police confirmed that Hindhaugh was charged with fraud on April 14, but would not give details of the case.

It is unclear if his arrest is linked to his departure from the South African wine farm.

Eaglevlei managing director Lizette Veldsman said a police investigation into Hindhaugh’s affairs had started after “his services with the company were terminated by the board in September 2007”.

“The directors were not happy with the job he was doing and thought he was not working in Eaglevlei’s best interests. So guidance was sought from the police,” Veldsman said. “Since Tony left Eaglevlei, the estate has flourished and business is... on track.”

Hindhaugh’s wife, Sue, and their four children stayed in England while he worked at establishing the wine farm as a commercial venture, but the couple divorced in 2007. Prior to his arrival in South Africa, Hindhaugh worked in management at his wealthy father-in-law’s chain of restaurants and pubs.

On his Space4Wine blog, Hindhaugh described himself as a wine expert who “created one of the country’s best wine tourist destinations” by turning around “a failed wine estate in South Africa”.

Attempting to resurrect his TV career, Hindhaugh returned to South Africa last year to make short films at a number of wine farms including Amani and Thokozani. “He told us he was going to use the clips to sell the idea to TV networks; all we needed to give was our premises and time,” said Newton Johnson Wines managing director Bevan Newton Johnson.

Attempts to contact Hindhaugh for comment were unsuccessful.