PSG considers wine tie-in

French football team Paris Saint-Germain is said to be looking to make a new signing from Bordeaux to go alongside the hats and scarves in the club shops.

The League 1 side, which recently signed David Beckham from LA Galaxy, is apparently in negotiations with a producer in the Côtes de Bourg to get a personalised wine for the club.
Francis Lamblin, who owns a four-hectare vineyard in the region, has been creating personalised labels and cases for the past eight years.

He told local newspaper Sud-Ouest that one of his label designs is “unique” in that the front of the label can be peeled away to open a small booklet with more information about the wine or recipient inside.

Lamblin drew the attention of PSG through a chance order for another footballer, Cameroonian legend Roger Milla.

Lamblin received an order last spring for personalised cases for the footballer’s 60^th birthday.

He was even flown out to Cameroon for the celebrations where he met another Cameroonian all-star, Smauel Ipoua.

Ipoua now works for Al-Jazeera run television show Bein Sport, the owner of which, the Qatari businessman Nasser al-Khelaifi, is also the president of PSG.

Ipoua was so enthusiastic about the idea of a personalised wine that he introduced Lamblin to the club’s owners.

This January he met Antoine Thery, the club’s commercial director and brought along a mock up bottle with a fold-out label featuring leading striker, the Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic (pictured above).

Lamblin told Sud-Ouest that Thery had been interested in the design and would give him an answer by March.

“They will also have to decide on the content of the tickets,” Lamblin told the paper, “But with all the fans around the world and with Beckham having joined, it could be incredible!”

If PSG do decide to adopt an official wine, it will put the club alongside Barcelona, which the drinks business recently reported has a tie-in with Rioja producer Bodegas Altanza.

Click here to read about other sporting tie-ups with wine.