Watch: Graham Norton tries his hand at blending wine

Television presenter Graham Norton gave blending wine a go as he prepares to release his fifth vintage alongside wine producers Invivo Wines, but the question is, can you ‘blend it like Norton’?

At his annual blending session with Invivo co-founder Tim Lightbourne and winemaker Rob Cameron, Graham Norton was adamant that he’d produced another “very drinkable” Sauvignon Blanc and rosé, declaring 2018’s vintage to be “excellent”.

Displaying his knowledge of all things vino, he said: “A nice warm spring and excellent flowering, plenty of rain when we needed it and lots of sunshine. All in all, a warm vintage with lots of tropical flavours. I’m seeing it as similar to 2014, possibly even the great 2011.

Cameron added: “Graham is getting annoyingly good at this winemaking business.

“After five years collaborating with us, Graham has really nailed his own winemaking style. He’s blended some very easy-to-drink, appealing and award winning wines and is incredibly hands on”.

The Graham Norton brand now has a Sauvignon Blanc, rosé and Shiraz in its portfolio and it also plans to enter the sparkling category this year with the launch of a Prosecco. 

“This is the most sparkling Italian you’ll ever share an evening with,” Cameron says, describing the new wine.

Invivo has partnered with growers in Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia in northern Italy in order to produce the wine, with Norton ultimately opting for a drier blend.

Graham Norton’s Prosecco was recently awarded a silver medal at The Drinks Business 2018 Global Sparkling Masters.

With just 14,000 bottles in the Graham Norton range produced in 2014, this year’s vintage is set to top 3 million bottles with growing demand from New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Ireland, the US, Norway, Denmark, Hong Kong and Japan.

Last month, Norton also announced that he would be added a gin to his portfolio.