Tennis star Djokovic launches two wines

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic has entered the world of wine, releasing two labels to market with his family-owned winery.

Djokovic Syrah 2020 and Djokovic Chardonnay 2020 are set to appear in wine shops and on restaurant wine lists in Serbia from this month, following their release in the country.

The famous tennis player was originally reported to have planted vineyards and built a winery on 5 hectares of land in the Šumadija wine region of Serbia in 2016. Wines from the estate are now being released for the first time, but will only be available in Serbia for the time being.

Approximately 8,500 bottles of the first vintage are to go on sale, with plans to double production in 2023. However, the projected capacity of the winery is about 60,000 litres, meaning plenty of opportunity for expansion.

According to the estate’s winemakers, quantities of wine have already been allocated for global distribution, Serbian news outlet Vino & Fino reported this month.

The land acquired by the Djokovic family for winemaking had been a vineyard site more than 50 years ago, but had since been abandoned and existed as woodland before the family’s purchase.

Goran Đoković, the winery’s oenologist and uncle to the Winbledon Champion, said: “There are many challenges, but we try to achieve the maximum in this business, as in everything. Even Novak’s every hit with the racket is not perfect, but he is still the best in the world.”

In other tennis-related news, a woman who went viral last year for her antics at the US Open tennis tournament has taken the internet by storm once more, as the tennis fan chugs down a beer in seven seconds flat for the benefit of TV cameras.

And the fan who Nick Kyrgios had kicked off Centre Court during the Wimbledon final has come forward, claiming she’d had just two drinks and was trying to support the Australian tennis player.

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