'Changing my life took some bottle'

Six months after Wendy Gedney’s husband John died in a car crash on his way home from work in Oxford she was in the depths of despair.

“I had no idea what to do with myself as my future plans had all died with him,” says Wendy. “I needed to find a new focus in life and a reason to live, everything seemed so pointless.”

But although things looked bleak, John, a systems analyst at Unipart, had left a legacy which would eventually bring hope and happiness.

“It opened up a new life for me, one I never imagined living and one that introduced me to people that I could never have met in my old life,” says Wendy.

Now, aged 60, she holds some of the highest qualifications attainable in the world of wine, lives in the South of France and has her own company organising vineyard tours.

“Not bad for a girl who left school aged just 15 and went to work on the hanky counter in a department store,” she says with a smile.

But there have been some dark days to get through.

“We were all devastated by his death,” says Wendy, who was living in Kenilworth with sons Tom and Sam, who were aged 13 and 15 at the time of the accident in December 2000.

She decided to take a year off work and during that time took a wine course at Coventry University.

“One of the things I inherited from John was his wine cellar stuffed full of wines that I knew nothing about,” says Wendy.

Wendy with her husband John

“I didn’t know whether to drink, keep or sell them. I thought the course would help me decide what to do with the wine in the cellar but in fact I discovered that I had a talent for the subject.”

Fascinated by what she was learning, when the eight-week course ended Wendy began working at Oddbins in Oxford and Stratford.

“It was just part-time but it really helped me learn more about this amazing subject,” she says.

She went on to do the WSET Advanced Certificate a qualification from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust, the British wine trade’s professional educational body.

But not believing she had what it would take to pass the highly regarded WSET Diploma she hesitated for a year.

“I was back at work when I enrolled on the Diploma course which was a two-year course again at Coventry Uni,” says Wendy.

“After the first year I was finding it tough, I knew something had to give, the job or the course. So I gave up the job!”

She started a school called The Wine Wise Company (now owned by one of her ex-students) teaching wine appreciation, passed the Diploma in 2006 and took a job as the wine teacher at University College Birmingham.

“I was immersed in the world of wine and wine education and one day I won a competition that would take me back to the Languedoc,” says Wendy, who had fond memories of a family holiday taken there in 1990. That holiday was the beginning of my love affair with the region and later the wines.

Sam and Tom on holiday in Languedoc in 1990

“I could remember everything about that fabulous holiday and was thrilled when I was invited back to the region and this time to a domaine making superb wines.

“I became great friends with the owners of Domaine Gayda who encouraged me to come back again and this time I worked at their domaine with the wine maker for a few weeks experiencing the reality of making wine. I fell in love with Languedoc all over again.”

Wanting to live in the region but nervous of selling up in the UK, in 2009 Wendy rented her home out and took a cottage in France.

“I bought a seven-seater car and had some leaflets printed and so began my new adventure and my new business – Vin en Vacances,” she says.

“My plan was to offer vineyard tours to people on holiday in the region. I didn’t know what to expect and was terrified when the first booking came in but the tour was a great success and indeed the first season was so encouraging that I decided to return the next year.”

For the next few years her pattern of life was living in the UK in the winter months teaching wine and living in Languedoc in the spring and summer running vineyard tours. With the business going from strength to strength, last year Wendy sold her house in the UK and bought a ruined cottage in Languedoc.

“I spent nine months renovating it and now live here permanently and full time,” she says.

Sons Tom, 28, and Sam, 30, have always been a great support.

“We are very close but also very independent of one another and they are very proud that I have followed my dream and now live here,” she says.

“They love to come over here mainly because the climate is so wonderful but also to spend time with me.

“They too can remember well that first holiday back in 1990 even though they were very small.”

You can’t help but think John would be delighted at what his wine collection has achieved.

Wendy runs a variety of tours (vinenvacances.com) and after searching in vain for a comprehensive book of all the wines made in the region wrote her own. The Wines of the Languedoc-Rousillon illustrated by Jenny Baker, gives a guide to the area with all the details of the wines and how they are produced, along with a bit of history and extras like a recipe for cassoulet.