Former Newcastle United footballer David Ginola was back at St. James’s Park today to launch his award-winning rosé in the north of England.
The dream for the Frenchman has been realised in partnership with the Coste Brulade co-op at Puget Ville in his native Var.
‘From the age of six or seven all I wanted to do was play football, but I grew up surrounded by vines. My parents loved wine and I knew I’d end up in the wine business one day’, Ginola said.
Ginola, who grew up in France, had a very clear idea of the wine that should bear his name. ‘I wanted to make a rosé that’s typically Provençal – pale and as sexy as possible’, he said.
‘The team at Coste Brulade are very competent but we did the assemblage together – Cinsault, Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Carignan and Tibouren. Tibouren is very exciting. It’s what makes Provençal rosé different.’
The success of Coste Brulade Rosé 2007 at the International Wine Challenge this year, in which it won a silver medal, took him by surprise. ‘We’ve been working on it for two years, but I didn’t think we’d win a medal so soon’, he said.
Although aimed specifically at UK drinkers, the rosé, produced at Ginola’s winery in Cotes de Provence, is yet to secure UK distribution. ‘Competition in the wine market is even tougher than in football’, he said.
A connoisseur of fine wine, Ginola has a 3000-bottle cellar including 1982 Petrus, 1990 Château Latour and 1990 Domaine de la Romanée Conti in his Sainte Maxime home in the South of France.
Written by Helen Savage
