Sir Nick Faldo tees off with own wine range

Golf legend Sir Nick Faldo has teamed up with Reading-based wine company Milton Sandford to launch his own-brand wine range.

Sir Nick Faldo chose his selection of six wines with the help of Milton Sandford owner John Winchester (Photo: Thomas Alexander)

The six-times major championship winner, who has also made 11 Ryder Cup appearances, has put his name and brand to a range of six wines chosen from among the Milton Sandford portfolio.

The wines – a Domaine Renaudie Sauvignon de Touraine, a Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis, a Berthet-Rayne Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a Le Tobele Valpolicella Ripasso, a Bussia Monti Barolo and a special-selection Bodegas Baigorri Rioja – were chosen by Milton Sandford owner John Winchester after a tasting of more than 30 different wines with Faldo undertaken to determine the golfer’s taste preferences.

The label of the wines carries the Faldo Shield – a crest of six stripes in claret and green representing Faldo’s six major championships in the order of their win: Claret Jug, Green Jacket, Green, Claret, Green, Claret, Claret, Green.

“It is a golfer’s story, a piece of history, a celebration of championship moments and the winner who created them,” Winchester said.

“We started out with 30 wines attempting to work out his palate,” he added. “When I started chatting to Nick it was an attempt to get his palate honed – what are the wines he drinks at home, what’s their style? There’s no Burgundian, there’s no Bordeaux in this collection because they didn’t fit with Nick’s palate.

“It was a long, exhaustive process.”

The range was presented at a launch party at Searcy’s Urban Coterie bar in Shoreditch, London, where Faldo was in attendance.

Faldo said the guiding idea behind the range were quality and value: “I love it when I find a wine that I really like and then discover it costs $20,” said Faldo, who now lives in the US.

“As a European golfer who enjoys wine, it made sense to bring out a European collection of wines. This has been a serious project, working over two summers to find the right wines and winery partners for the collection. We hope with the calibre of producers and wines that the collection will have international appeal and export opportunity is on the horizon.”

Faldo joins a group of five other famous golfers whose wines are available through Milton Sandford: Retief Goosen (The Goose Wines, Upper Langkloof, South Africa), Arnold Palmer (Arnold Palmer Wines, Napa, California), Ernie Els (Ernie Els Wines, Stellenbosch, Southg Africa), Jack Nicklaus (Jack Nicklaus Wines, Napa, California) and Greg Norman (Australia, California, Argentina, New Zealand).

The Faldo range will be available through Milton Sandford retail arm, the Wine Cellar Club.