Boris Johnson reveals he’s a Tignanello fan

British politician Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to become the next Prime Minister, has revealed he’s a wine lover and is particularly partial to Super Tuscan Tignanello.

Prime Minster hopeful Boris Johnson shares the same favourite wine as the Duchess of Sussex – Super Tuscan Tignanello

Johnson revealed his love of wine during a photocall at a Wetherspoon pub in London’s Baker Street with the chain’s founder Tim Martin.

Describing himself as a “wine man”, Johnson told political newsletter Politico Playbook: “Someone bought me a crate of Tignanello and I had no idea how expensive it was. I was just glugging it back.

“It’s extraordinary stuff, it was delicious. I discovered later that it was the favourite wine of Meghan Markle. I was so amazed by this wine, I thought – what is this stuff?”

The Duchess of Sussex is such a fan of Tignanello that she named her now defunct lifestyle blog The Tig.

“It wasn’t just red or white, suddenly I understood what people meant by the body, legs, structure of wine. It was an ah-ha moment at its finest. For me, it became a ‘Tig’ moment – a moment of getting it,” Markle wrote on her blog.

“From that point on, any new awareness, any new discovery or ‘I get it’ moment was a ‘Tig’ moment,” she added.

The creation of Piero Antinori, Tignanello launched in 1974 with the 1971 vintage. Made from a blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc grown on rocky limestone soils in Chianti Classico, the wine is so popular that it’s a prime target for counterfeiters.

In February authorities in Florence and Cremona arrested three people following the discovery of 11,000 fake bottles of wines fraudulently labelled as Tignanello.

From the 2013 vintage, Antinori placed an embossed logo on bottles in a bid to combat counterfeiting, which was extended to the Tignanello lettering from the 2015 vintage.

A smaller label on bottles has also been used since 2016 in an effort to distinguish genuine from fake bottles.

The label, with its sun emblem, was created by Italian artist Silvio Coppola. The wine sells for around £80 a bottle on release.