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SIR CLIFF UNVEILS HIS WINE ON HARPERS' STAND!

Published:  23 July, 2008

By Christian Davis

Sir Cliff Richard is launching his own wine on Harpers' stand (HH10) at the London International Wine & Spirits fair. 2001 'Vida Nova' is the first vintage to be released, from a harvest that yielded 27,000 bottles. It is a blend of Shiraz, Aragonz, Tempranillo and Trincadeira and will be available at John E Fells from July. The wine is made from fruit planted in 1998 in Sir Cliff's Portuguese vineyard adjoining his quinta, just north of Albufeira. The wine was vinified by the Portugal-based Australian, David Baverstock. Tim Stanley-Clarke told Harpers that the wine is strictly on allocation, with only 3,400 six-bottle cases available to the UK. Waitrose is taking it at 7.99 and at least one other multiple retailer is expected to list it. Vida Nova will also go into prestige retail accounts. The grapes were picked in the first week of September and after a seven-day fermentation, the wine was aged in used one-year-old American and French oak casks, prior to being bottled this month. Stanley-Clarke reports that Sir Cliff has decided to invest in a winery which is being built near the vineyard and which will be ready for the 2003 harvest. Further vineyards are also being established, and production is expected to double to approximately 55,000 bottles in two years' time.

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