Geoff Bowen dead: Dragon's Den entrepreneur and wine merchant dies of brain tumour aged 53

Environmental consultant won £60,000 from investor Duncan Bannatyne on hit BBC show to expand Pebblebed Vineyard passion project

Geoff Bowen (SWNS)

An award-winning British vineyard owner who won the backing of Duncan Bannatyne on Dragons' Den has died just three months after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Entrepreneur Geoff Bowen, 53, was the brains behind Pebblebed Vineyards, which became famous after he appeared on the hit show.

Geoff, an environmental consultant by profession, caused a row between Dragons Deborah Meaden and Duncan in 2011.

Bannatyne won out and became an investor and stumped up £60,000 to expand the business.

More than 30,000 viewers logged onto the Pebblebed Vineyard website soon after the show to buy Geoff's sparkling wines.

Geoff's wife Anna and their daughters Martha, 19, and Jessie, 17, have now paid a heartfelt tribute to him after he passed away in the early hours of last Saturday morning, 6 January, at Exeter Hospiscare.

They said: “We are devastated that Geoff has left us years before he should have done.

“We will be forever thankful for his infectious love, generosity, passion, excitement, enthusiasm and joy of life and living, and also for the loving security he gave to us as a family.

“He is irreplaceable and we will miss and love him forever.”

Geoff had very little symptoms before being diagnosed with aggressive grade four glioblastoma - the most common high grade brain tumour in adults, on 6 October 2017.

Geoff, who lived with his family in Topsham, Devon, was a huge part of the local community with 500 people helping bring in the grape harvest.

Pebblebed Vineyard was launched in 1999 as a community project. Geoff gathered together like-minded friends and planted a small vineyard on land owned by a friend at nearby Ebford.

He produced his first wine commercial wine called Dodo Bird in 2002.

By 2006, the entrepreneur was producing 10,000 units of wine, before more than doubling it to 25,000 units in 2010.

Pebblebed makes still white, rosé and red as well as fabulous white and rosé sparkling wines produced by the classic method of secondary fermentation in the bottle.

The community vineyard, shared amongst a number of Topsham families, continues today, while the commercial Pebblebed vineyard, planted in 2003, has gone from strength to strength.

With 25 acres/12 hectares under plantation, it is now the largest commercial vineyard in the South West.

In a good year, Pebblebed might produce upwards of 40,000 bottles.

SWNS