A screenshot from the new video celebrating the release of Sarah Jessica Parker's new wine in collaboration with Invivo. Photo / Screengrab
A screenshot from the new video celebrating the release of Sarah Jessica Parker's new wine in collaboration with Invivo. Photo / Screengrab
Invivo Wines and Sarah Jessica Parker are set to release their third vintage of their award-winning sauvignon blanc this autumn, after making it across the world from each other.
Typically, Parker and Invivo's founders Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron blend the new vintages of their wines together in person. But, because of Covid, they've adapted to the current international travel restrictions by making the past three new vintages of their wines virtually.
With limited options available to Lightbourne and Cameron to dial-in SJP at their winery in Te Kauwhata, the resourceful pair used a little Kiwi ingenuity to connect SJP to a TV screen for the blending session, which was carefully positioned on the back of a forklift truck, driven into the winery by Cameron.
Parker plays an instrumental part in wine blending, which is the last stage of the winemaking process whereby winemakers combine different wines from various estates to create one ultimate blend that brings out the best characteristics of all.
"We are so proud of this vintage, it has an incredible fragrance along with a unique taste and mouth feel but is still in keeping with the style of sauvignon blanc, which I've found can be more flexible than I had originally thought," Parker said.
To celebrate, Invivo and SJP are releasing an exclusive video of their latest wine tasting and blending session that reveals what really goes into making the NZ wine behind the "X".
After the sauvignon blanc harvest in March in Marlborough, six exceptional sauvignon blanc wines were made by Invivo co-founder and winemaker Cameron and sent across the Atlantic to Parker, along with wine-blending equipment.
Parker dialled in from her home in New York, while Lightbourne and Cameron dialled in from their winery in New Zealand, and the trio spent an afternoon together tasting and blending their third vintage of Invivo X, SJP Sauvignon Blanc, previously recognised by Wine Spectator as one of the Top 100 wines of 2020.
"This is our third vintage so the challenge each year is to make sure our new vintage is as good as previous years, given the love and respect for it from our customers but keeping true to this year's grapes," Parker said.
"This year's wine has a touch of oak introduced to it - given Sarah Jessica's love for chardonnay - and has a lovely, soft, full-bodied palate.
"We are so proud of this vintage, it has an incredible fragrance along with a unique taste," actress Sarah Jessica Parker says. Photo / Supplied
"It's still representative of sauvignon blanc with its tropical fruit aromas and a nice interplay of fruit and acid, but with Sarah Jessica's unique handprint on it," Cameron said.
It pairs well with an assortment of dishes that are popular during this season like seafood, ham, turkey, salads, steaks, or Parker's favourites: classical dishes such as lamb chops, casseroles, Chinese food, cheese or lighter, casual fare like pizza.
Parker is on the board of Invivo USA, and the "X" on the wine label represents her signature Instagram sign-off "X, SJ" in addition to the collaboration between Invivo and Parker and was hand-painted by Parker. The colourways of each of the wines in the Invivo X, SJP collection are matched to a colourway in her shoe collection, SJP Collection.
Invivo X, Sarah Jessica Parker sauvignon blanc and rose wines have been awarded 14 gold medals, numerous 90-point ratings and more than 50 awards in total since launch in September 2019. Most recently, Invivo X, SJP Sauvignon Blanc 2020 won best in class, double gold at the prestigious 2021 New York World Wine & Spirits Competition (NYWSC) out of hundreds of wines that were blindly tasted by an expert judging panel.
Currently, the award-winning sauvignon blanc from New Zealand and rose from the South of France are available from all major supermarkets and liquor stores.
