Product Update

Is Pebblebed Vineyard Still in Business? (2026 Update)

Is Pebblebed Vineyard from Dragons’ Den still around in 2026? The deal it made, the dragons who invested, and where to buy Pebblebed Vineyard today.

Dragons' Den IndexUpdated 13 April 20266 min read

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Pebblebed Vineyard pitched one of the more unusual ideas the Den has ever seen: rather than selling wine, founder Geoff Bowen was selling a stake in making it, inviting members of the public to rent their own vines and take part in the harvest. Years later, the vineyard is not just still standing, it has grown into a genuine Devon destination.

The Short Answer

Pebblebed Vineyard is still in business. It operates today as a working vineyard in Clyst St George, near Exeter in Devon, producing still and sparkling white, rosé and red wine, and it is open to the public for tastings and tours. The vineyard is now closely tied to Darts Farm, the well-known Devon farm shop and retail destination, which sells Pebblebed wine and runs vineyard tours and community harvest events.

That is a genuinely strong outcome for a small independent vineyard. Wine production is a slow, capital-heavy business, and Pebblebed has not just survived, it has become a recognisable local attraction with a public programme of tastings and harvest events running well over a decade after the Dragons' Den pitch.

The Pitch

Geoff Bowen brought Pebblebed Vineyard into the Den in series 8, episode 1, pitching an idea closer to an early crowdfunding scheme than a traditional investment ask. Rather than simply raising cash, the pitch invited 30 individuals and businesses to each put in £2,000 to sponsor the planting of new vines, in exchange for helping with the winemaking process from planting through to harvest, and receiving £2,000 worth of wine back over a ten-year period.

Bowen asked the Dragons for £60,000 in the studio, in exchange for 40 percent of the business. By most accounts of the episode, he had a rocky pitch, reportedly drying up midway through a lengthy grilling from the panel, which makes the outcome all the more notable.

The Deal

Despite the difficult pitch, Duncan Bannatyne backed the idea, investing £60,000 into the Pebblebed Partner Vineyards scheme. That structure meant the investment fed directly into the same partner-vine model being offered to the public, rather than a conventional equity stake in a trading company.

It is an unusual deal by Den standards, closer to patronage of a local wine-growing project than a typical scale-up bet, but it matched the actual shape of the business Bowen had built.

How the Vineyard Grew

Pebblebed was not a brand-new idea when it reached the Den. The vineyard was originally planted in 1999, and Bowen produced his first wine, called Dodo Bird, back in 2002, meaning the business already had over a decade of winemaking behind it by the time it appeared on television.

Since then, the vineyard has deepened its ties with Darts Farm, which now lists Pebblebed wine in its shop and runs ticketed vineyard tours and tastings directly through its own booking pages, including a community harvest event that continues to invite local involvement in the picking process, a clear echo of the original partner-vine concept from the pitch.

An Unusual Kind of Longevity

Most Dragons' Den success stories are about a product scaling fast: more units, more shelf space, more markets. Pebblebed's survival looks nothing like that. It has grown slowly and deliberately, staying a genuinely local, land-based business that cannot simply expand production the way a gadget or a fashion brand can, because wine takes years to grow and cannot be manufactured on demand.

That slower shape is arguably why it has lasted. Vineyards that overextend on debt-funded expansion are common casualties in the wine industry, while Pebblebed's community-funded, partner-vine approach to growth kept the business closely tied to a loyal local following rather than dependent on outside capital it might not have been able to service.

Where Things Stand Now

Today Pebblebed grows across sites in the Exeter area, producing a full range of still and sparkling wines, and remains open to the public for tastings, tours and winery visits. Whether the exact original £2,000 partner-vine scheme from the pitch is still sold in that specific form is not something we could confirm with certainty, but the underlying vineyard business it funded is thriving.

For a pitch that started with a founder drying up mid-sentence in front of five investors, ending up as an established Devon wine destination with a supermarket-adjacent retail partner is a genuinely good outcome.

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See the full Pebblebed Vineyard deal breakdown and term sheet →