Ginola heads back to region

Aug 19 2008 by Jane Hall, The Journal

FLAMBOYANT French footballer David Ginola is to make a nostalgic return trip to the North East as he adds an international flavour to The Journal Taste 2 food and drink festival.

The former winger who gave fans a taste of the good life during his time at Newcastle United is set to get them drooling all over again with his latest endeavour – wine.

And the 41-year-old who famously told the world “Because I’m worth it,” in a series of shampoo adverts, has chosen The Journal Taste 2 event in association with Tesco to officially launch his award-winning rosé in the UK.

Last night Ginola said he was looking forward to “coming home” to the region that took him to its collective hearts during his two years at Newcastle United in the mid-1990s, and “bringing some sunshine through my wine as I hear you haven’t had much this summer”.

He will join Hairy Bikers, or should we say Hairy Bakers, Simon King and Dave Myers and nationally respected wine writer Malcolm Gluck at what will be the biggest and best food and drink festival ever held in the North East with around 100 artisan producers due to gather at Linden Hall Hotel, Golf and Country Club at Longhorsley, near Morpeth, Northumberland, on August 30.

Ginola will unveil his Coste Brulade 2007 Rosé, from Cotes de Provence, which in May won a prestigious silver medal on his debut at the International Wine Challenge in London.

The rosé – which triumphed in a blind tasting at what is the biggest wine fair in the world – was praised for its “gentle strawberry fruit flavours with a hint of minerality”.

Two other of Ginola’s wines were also approved.

Speaking from his home in the sun-soaked South East of France, Ginola says he feels “great” about coming back to the place that “first welcomed me into the UK”, and being involved with Taste 2.

A keen advocate of local food in his own country where he loves picking mushrooms and wild asparagus or collecting sea urchins in season, he says he is “looking forward to meeting the public and sharing my time and my rosé with as many people from the North East as possible”.

Wine production was the last thing most people expected Ginola to go into when he finally hung up his football boots.

With his flowing locks (now cut short) and good looks, a career in modelling, the media or football management seemed to be the obvious choice. But always a cut above your average Premiership player, all he really wanted to do was make fine wine. Growing up in Provence, it was his parents who instilled an appreciation of the fruit of the vine in the young Ginola. On Saturday mornings, he and his father used to fetch wine from the local co-operative in Plan de La Tour.

He recalls: “As a child I was introduced to wine a ‘goutte du docteur,’ the doctor’s drop, a drop of wine in a glass of water, to complement cheese at the end of the meal. As I got older I would be served a full glass, but we would never have wine without food.”

As a high earning footballer, he found himself able to start indulging his love of fine wines – his most expensive acquisitions are Chateau Pétrus 1982 and Romanée Conti 1990.

“Through my football I was very lucky to meet sommeliers and others who introduced me to fantastic wines from different origins, from the old and the new world.

“And, of course, when I played for Aston Villa, I lived in the Hotel du Vin, where Gerard Basset and his sommeliers ‘subjected’ me to a lot of blind tastings.”

He still remembers one particular evening during his time with Newcastle when he and Kevin Keegan, on his first managerial stint at the club, imbibed a little too much.

“Kevin Keegan really appreciates fine wines and once we opened a few of these amazing bottles and drank, how shall I say, enthusiastically.

“The next day at a charity golf tournament I saw two balls at the opening tee!”

It’s still a big step from appreciating fine wine to producing it. But Ginola is in fact one of a growing list of celebrities who have turned their attention to the medium.

South African golfer Ernie Els, ever youthful pop star Cliff Richard, American film director Francis Ford Coppola and Top Gear presenter Quentin Wilson, are just some of the well-known faces who have taken commercially to the vine.

Ginola has bought into an existing partnership with the ambitious co-operative cellar of Coste Brulade in the small town of Puget-Ville, a short drive from his Sainte Maxime home.

He doesn’t see himself as a celebrity ‘playing’ at being a wine man. He has clear ideas on the type of wine he wants to bear his name, visits Coste Brulade regularly and is a part of the team.

Neither does he believe celebrity investment in vineyards is necessarily the way forward. “I don’t think so, at least not in the longer term,” Ginola states. “It is not about celebrity investment, it is about the quality of the wines produced.

“I take what I do very seriously, and hopefully the silver medal is a testimony to that.”

He admits Coste Brulade was not his first choice – but one he is more than happy with. “I had been looking to buy a vineyard in Provence for years. Whilst still a footballer I tried to buy the Domaine de la Bastide Blanche near St Tropez but was outbid.

“I finally discovered Coste Brulade and together with Jean-Christophe Audéoud, the domaine’s winemaker, we produced a rosé from the 2007 harvest.

“I hope the quality of my wine makes it credible and is on a par with my interest and the work we put in.”

Currently preparing for the grape harvest, starting just before Taste 2, Ginola is working on adding a red and a white to the stable.

In the meantime, he hopes it won’t be long before Coste Brulade 2007 Rosé appears on British shelves. Until then, visitors to Taste 2 can claim to be among the first British people to try it.

“I invite people to come and try the rosé,” Ginola says. “I’m really looking forward to Taste 2.”

Event details

What is it? Journal Taste 2 food and drink festival in association with Tesco.

When? August 30

Where? The Macdonald Linden Hall Hotel, Golf and Country Club, Longhorsley near Morpeth, Northumberland.

Time: 10am-4pm

What’s going to be there? The biggest and best food and drink fair ever held in the North East with stalls piled high with the freshest local produce, a Fairtrade village, wine and beer marquee, Hairy Bikers Simon King and Dave Myers, popular national wine writer Malcolm Gluck, celebrity chef demos, wine and beer tastings with The Journal’s Helen Savage and Alastair Gilmour, children’s entertainment and live music.

How much? Entrance will be £5 per person with under 16s going free. But keep buying The Journal in the run-up to the event as we will be running a cut-price ticket promotion.