Wine tasted on the show today was Graham Norton Shiraz from South Australia. It’s a companion to the white wine already sold under his name. New Zealanders Tim Lightbourne and Robert Cameron of Invivo wines got in touch with the Graham Norton show producers a couple of years ago and asked if they could supply them with wine for the show. The producer tasted it and said yes. Norton himself wanted to be more hands on than that and so helped them make it! There a couple of funny you tube videos with one showing him stomping a bucket of grapes in his apartment that are flown back to NZ to be reunited with a mother tank. Then there’s another with him blending the wine with a lot more swallowing than spitting.

The white was wildly successful and the 2016 sold 500,000 bottles and profits go to Norton’s dog’s trust charity. Now they have a red to match and the first vintage is expected to sell 3-400,000 bottles. This time though it’s made in Australia not NZ and it’s a Shiraz (with 5% Cabernet) and it’s made from vineyards in Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek. There’s another video with Graham and the boys blending, this time in Bandon his home town.

How does it taste? “Well not like vinegar” says one woman he gets to try it. It’s a big South Australian Shiraz at 14.5%, so plenty of body and full of fruit and spice, about as subtle as some of the jackets he wears on his show.
Martin Moran MW @winerepublic