Hollywood star Sarah Jessica Parker teams up with Invivo & Co for world's first-ever virtual winemaking session.
Following the success of her first vintage of Invivo X, SJP Sauvignon Blanc, Sarah Jessica Parker and her partners Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron from New Zealand-based winery Invivo & Co have made their 2020 second release together, in what is believed to be the world's first-ever virtual winemaking session.
New York-based Sarah Jessica Parker dialled in Tim and Rob from their winery in Te Kauwhata, New Zealand, to create and sign off their latest blend, over a 2-hour Zoom call.
"Time with Tim and Rob is a delight," says SJP. "I'd much rather be in their company, and at first I was concerned a virtual blending wouldn't allow for us to arrive with a blend of our new Sauvignon Blanc that would thrill and delight as the first [wine] did. I thought the distance would make the necessary kind of communication impossible, but it was our typical fun, surprising, wonderfully perplexing moment, and an ultimately fruitful blend."
In 2019, Sarah Jessica Parker launched her first wine with the Invivo winemakers. It became an instant hit, selling over 400,000 bottles globally. That year, Tim and Rob blended and signed off the Invivo X, SJP Sauvignon Blanc with Sarah Jessica Parker in person, but international travel restrictions meant the meeting wasn't meant to be this year. However, not even a global pandemic could stop the partnership, so Invivo couriered six wine samples to New York, taken from the latest harvest in March 2020. Samples of Sauvignon Blanc from various estates in Marlborough were taken personally from the tank by Rob, and shipped directly to Sarah Jessica's home, along with wine-blending equipment in the form of flasks and measuring cylinders.
The wine blending, tasting and adjusting followed the same process as wineries follow, but with SJP's guidance, overseen by Rob. "We hit a great style with the 2019 Sauvignon Blanc, so we felt there were some big shoes to fill with the 2020 wine," he says. The whole team are delighted with the result, and the Invivo X, SJP Sauvignon Blanc vintage 2020 will be headed into stores around the world.