Evergreen singer Sir Cliff Richard's wine has broken all records on supermarket chain Tesco's website.
Vida Nova – a red wine made on the pop star’s estate in Portugal’s Algarve – knocked the newly-released DVD of blockbuster Lord of the Rings into second place on tesco.com, for speed of sales.
Three thousand bottles were released on the UK retailer’s site on August 12. Within a day, all 500 six-bottle cases had sold out. Cases retailed at £45.54 (€70) each.
‘We could have sold the wine ten times over, tesco.com’s Carolyn Brady told Harpers wine and spirit magazine.
Tesco.com is not the only supermarket website to see Vida Nova snapped up in record time. Waitrose.com is reported to have sold its 1,200-bottle quota within 12 hours of putting the wine online.
Vida Nova is being distributed on an allocation-only basis by UK agent John E Fells. Supermarkets Tesco and Waitrose have recently collected stocks of the wine for sale on the shop shelf, while Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges are interested in stocking it. Sainsbury’s will be taking it from September.
The wine is made from a blend of Shiraz, Aragonez and Trincadeira. The grapes were harvested from vines planted in 1998 in the vineyard adjoining Richard’s quinta just north of Albufeira. The wine was vinified by Australian winemaker David Baverstock, and aged in used one-year-old oak casks.
Richard produced 27,000 bottles of the 2001 vintage, of which 24,000 have been exported to the UK. The reminder is for sale in Portugal.
According to wine consultant Tim Stanley-Clarke, who has been working with Sir Cliff Richard, production of Vida Nova will more than double within the next three years. A new vineyard and winery will boost output, he said.
Written by Liz Hughes28 August 2002
