Sting’s Wine Sister Moon, a red produced with Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes at the 16th century Tuscan winery of the iconic British singer, has been included in the Wine Spectator’s annual ranking of the best 100 Italian wines for the first time this year.
Indeed, 100 Italian wines worth of special visibility are selected by the American magazine to open Vinitaly in Verona every year. This edition of the main Italian wine fair (3-6 April 2016) will see over 4,000 wineries exhibit their oenological products in the city of Romeo and Juliet.
“We are very happy and proud that the wine has been recognized” Sting told the Italian press. “Sister Moon is full-bodied, with hints of black pepper mixed with liquorice and blackberries”.
Named after one of Sting’s most popular songs, Sister Moon was the first IGT Toscano wine produced in 2007 at Il Palagio, the winery purchased by Sting from a local nobleman in 1999. With an alcohol content of 14.9%, Sister Moon is aged for 24 months in new French barriques.
Sister Moon was then followed by others: Casino delle Vie, a blend of Sangiovese, Canaiolo and Colorino (13.5%), Message in a Bottle (so our title pun is not so original!), a very drinkable Toscana IGT aged for 12 months in French oak barrel (13.2%) and When We Dance, the most recent addition to the Il Palagio Cellar: an every-day Chianti, named after another famous Sting’s track, made with 95% Sangiovese blended with Canaiolo and Colorino vines (13%).
Paolo Caciorgna, a Tuscan wine expert lying behind the production of Sister Moon, says it is not strange for a musician to enjoy winemaking: “Wine is like a beautiful piece of music, an opera that the musician or the tenor has to perform. The notes are always the same, but the outcome is always different and often exciting”. At Il Palagio, Paolo teams up with Paolo Rossi, the estate manager focusing on daily operations, and Alan York, a world-known consultant for biodynamic winegrowers in the Americas, South Africa and Europe.
While many British musicians only focus on drinking wine, Sting is not the sole one who also produces it.
Cliff Richard owns “The Adega do Cantor” (literally, the Winery of the Singer), an estate situated at Guia, close to Albufeira in Portugal. Among his production, Vida Nova, a set of wines blended from a mix of indigenous and international grape varietals.
Mick Fletwood, the legendary Redruth-born drummer and co-founder of the band Fleetwood Mac, has been producing since 2012 three white varietals and two redvarietals labeled "Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar" at the Chateau Julien in Carmel, California. The wine is sold online and in specialty shops and restaurants all around the globe. However, according to a recent piece of news published by Courthouse News Service, a US nationwide news service for lawyers and other legal operators, “the winemaker behind his label abruptly closed, sold its assets and stiffed him for more than USD 172,000 in royalties” (31 December 2015).
Not a pleasant situation for our friend Mick. Maybe he should drink a glass of his enjoyable Merlot to relax and forget the disappointing business partner. What about starting to outsource wine production to the colleague Sting...? Libiamo!
