TV Personality Graham Norton Takes a Hand at Winemaking with 2015 Invivo Vintage

New Zealand-based Invivo Wine has partnered with television personality Graham Norton for the second Graham Norton’s Own Sauvignon Blanc, the first to be available in Australia.

For the line’s flagship release in 2014 Norton, who is a shareholder in the winery, helped to create the limited edition by stomping a barrel of New Zealand grapes. For the 2015 vintage however, the goal was to further his involvement into areas that were much more connected to the development of an actual product.

“Graham is a huge Invivo fan and our dealings with him have shown us he really knows wine. So this year we thought we would put him in the driver’s seat,” said Invivo founder and chief winemaker Rob Cameron.

In order to maximise Norton’s involvement, the entire Invivo blending setup was flown from Marlborough to London so the talk show king could personally blend the wine, under expert guidance from Cameron.

“We’d never tried anything like this before,” continues Cameron, “As well as all the blending and tasting glassware we had to transport six distinctive samples of Sauvignon Blanc from our six different Marlborough growers and get them there in perfect condition for the blending… what a mission!”

In Norton’s own words, the process added valuable ‘Norton Hemisphere’ magic to the Southern Hemisphere Sauvignon Blanc grapes— with the final blend featuring Sauvignon Blanc from three of Invivo’s Marlborough growers.

“That’s it, my perfect blend…and it’s lovely, tropical fruit, a bit of zing…cheers to that!”

All of the sessions were captured on film and can be viewed on YouTube here.

The brand also makes a point to mention that the environmental impact of the exercise was minimised through a contribution to Air New Zealand’s Carbon Offset Programme.

For fellow Invivo co-founder Tim Lightbourne, the process was a great fit with the Invivo brand.

“We’re not a big corporate that tries to hide behind advertising or endorsements, we’re authentic and we love that Graham wanted to get personally involved to this degree. He’s come up with a bloody good drop!”

Earlier this year Invivo raised $2 million through crowd funding to fuel further growth, making them the very first New Zealand company to do so. It is with the same approach that the brand says they collaborated with Norton and will continue to release his blend ongoing.

The 2015 Graham Norton’s Own Sauvignon Blanc will retail in Australia from September with an RRP of $18.99.

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