Sarah Jessica Parker and her Invivo X, SJP Kiwi Cofounders Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron are set to release a third vintage of their award-winning Sauvignon Blanc and 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’.
Sarah Jessica plays an instrumental part in wine blending, which is the last stage of the winemaking process that sees winemakers combine different wines from various estates to create one ultimate blend that brings out the best characteristics of all.
Typically, Sarah Jessica and Tim and Rob blend the new vintages of their wines together in-person but have adapted to the current international travel restrictions by making the last three new vintages of their wines (Sauvignon Blanc and Rosé) virtually. With limited options available to Tim and Rob 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 Rob.
After the Sauvignon Blanc harvest in March in Marlborough, six exceptional Sauvignon Blanc wines were made by Invivo Co-founder and winemaker Rob, and sent across the Atlantic to Sarah Jessica, along with wine-blending equipment.
Sarah Jessica dialled in from her home in New York, while Tim and Rob 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.
“As always, my partners Tim and Rob really surprised me with the wine samples for this Sauvignon Blanc blend. 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,” expressed Parker.
"It’s always a pleasure spending the afternoons tasting with Tim and Rob. 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.”
Sarah Jessica 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 Sarah Jessica Parker and was hand-painted by Sarah Jessica. The colourways of each of the wines in the Invivo X, SJP collection are matched to a colourway in her shoe collection, SJP Collection.
“Every time we blend the new vintage of Sauvignon Blanc, Sarah Jessica continues to push the style and her blending skills are really evolving. 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,” noted Invivo Co-founder Rob Cameron.
“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. We can’t wait to be together in-person hopefully for next year’s blending session but speaking with Sarah Jessica on a big TV screen on the back of a fork-lift at our winery in New Zealand was a lot of fun!”
Versatile and food friendly, it pairs well with an assortment of dishes that are popular coming into the warmer months like ham, salads, steaks, or Sarah Jessica’s favourites: classical dishes such as lamb chops, casseroles, Chinese food, cheese or lighter, casual fare like pizza.
Invivo X, Sarah Jessica Parker Sauvignon Blanc and Rosé wines have been awarded fourteen 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 Rosé from the South of France are available from all major supermarkets and good liquor stores in New Zealand including Countdown.
For more information head to www.invivoxsjp.com.
