Actress Sarah Jessica Parker has teamed up with Invivo wines to produce a signature range.
Used to winning awards for her acting, former Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker has instead accepted an award for her New Zealand wine.
The New York-based Hollywood megastar won Best Launch of the Year at The 2020 Drinks Business Awards run by Europe's largest industry title.
Last year Parker got together with Kiwi winemakers Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron and created Invivo X, SJP.
To celebrate their win, the trio filmed an award ceremony-style acceptance speech in their homes in the US and NZ. Parker donned a designer facemask and Lightbourne and Cameron were in black-tie standing at a podium.
"This was a wonderful surprise, enormously flattering and a great honour," Parker said. "I want to thank everyone at The Drinks Business and The Drinks Business Awards for including our little brand. We're tickled and thrilled and, of course, all credit is due to the great, small, but mighty team."
Lightbourne tells Spy that winning the award is huge for them after the whirlwind 12 months of launching the brand in NY and selling more than 500,000 bottles worldwide.
"It's been an amazing year, from the launch in Manhattan, being starstruck with the guests, such as Matthew Broderick and Andy Cohen, being featured on Good Day New York breakfast show and CNN to bottle signings with huge lines down the road on Madison Ave blocking traffic."
Lightbourne says Parker is a dream to work with and has been hands-on.
"One incredible memory she shared with us was when she was waiting for the first vintage of her wine we sent from New Zealand. She told us she was so excited to taste it, it was like waiting for the final script from Sex and the City."
Invivo also has a relationship across the Atlantic with Graham Norton and in their six-year partnership, they have sold more than 10 million bottles of wine.