Nicholas Coates left a successful 25 year career in investment banking in 2007, aged 47, in search of a second career and a better way of life. Surrounded by chalk slopes around his home in North Hampshire, he decided, in 2009, with his old friend Christian Seely (who he met during their MBA degree at INSEAD, Fontainebleau in 1987), to plant vines and to establish a winery in the North Hampshire Downs, just a stone’s throw from his home. Convinced that the cool climate and ‘Champagne’ soils of southern England are capable of making world class sparkling wines, the two set off on their venture. A decade later, Coates & Seely's wines are listed in Michelin-starred restaurants, royal places and iconic houses around the world. Nicholas’ wife Virginia now runs Events at Coates & Seely and their son Tristram heads Coates & Seely’s sales. The Coates and Seely families are closer than ever, joined not only in friendship but in a continuing determination to produce wines of distinction that truly express their surroundings, their character and their values.
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