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A corker of a life change


Having left her corporate life behind and seen her grown-up sons leave home, Sally Evans needed a project – so she created a successful winery in Bordeaux, says Richard Webber


G


iving up corporate life to pursue a dream is something many of us wish


for, but few ever achieve. It takes courage, determination, foresight and drive in bucket- loads, which is something Sally Evans can attest to. The 60-year-old marketing


specialist, whose long CV includes running a family hostelry and being marketing director for a tech services company, fell in love with France almost 30 years ago. “I moved to Paris for love and for a new start because my


then partner was starting an MBA. Plus, I wanted my two sons to grow up bilingual and bicultural,” explains Sally. After several years of jetting


around the world for work, Sally began to feel that her work/ life balance was out of kilter. “I wanted to enjoy the French way of life fully, rather than just on holiday.” This, coupled with a wish to spend more time with her children, saw Sally wave goodbye to corporate life which, after Paris, had taken her to Valbonne in the south. By the time her youngest son had left home, Sally had


30 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: September/October 2023


decided to focus on the rest of her life. “I wanted to have a project that not only involved renovating a property, but also created a business that I was really passionate about.” It didn’t take Sally long


before the idea of winemaking came to mind. “It combines everything from nature and history to science and creativity; it’s a very sociable product, too. So, I started studying wine for pleasure and soon realised it was where my future lay.” Swapping the south of


France for another area of the


country became part of the new adventure. She settled on the Bordeaux region. “I’d drunk Bordeaux wines but had never visited the city or surrounds, so thought a new adventure in this area of France would be the perfect next chapter.”


PICKING A PROPERTY Finding the right property is always a challenge, especially if a vineyard forms part of the requirements. But Sally, who’s now single, found what she was looking for in the tiny village of Saillans near Libourne, situated 40 minutes outside Bordeaux at the confluence of the Dordogne and Isle rivers. “I live in a renovated


worker’s cottage surrounded by my parcel of vines. When I was property-hunting, one criteria was that I wanted to step out of the house and into the


© SALLY EVANS/CHÂTEAU GEORGE 7


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