Singer-turned-winemaker Cliff Richard has been duped into slamming his own wine as 'tainted and insipid' on a TV programme.
Richard's nemesis was the outspoken super-chef Gordon Ramsay, on whose show The F-Word Richard was appearing as a guest.
During the recording of the programme, Ramsay gave Richard two wines to taste blind. The first he pronounced 'amazing', to which Ramsay said, 'Of course, it was a £400 bottle.'
Of the second, his own wine Vida Nova from his estate in the Algarve, southern Portugal, he said, 'That's rubbish. I wouldn't pay for that, it's tainted, it's insipid. It tastes like vinaigrette. I'd never buy that.'
An exultant Ramsay revealed the singer had just rubbished his own wine.
'He couldn't even identify his own wine. We are now using it for vinaigrette at Claridges. It's going down tremendously well with the tuna,' he allegedly crowed.
But one veteran observer pointed out, 'The first wine Ramsay gave him was a £400 claret. Of course a Portuguese table wine, made from five-year-old vines, is going to taste rough after that. It's a classic wine industry sting.'
Vida Nova is produced from 24ha of Syrah, Aragonez and Alicante Bouschet. at the Adega do Cantor (Cellar of the Singer) estate in Albufeira in the Algarve. Around 50,000 cases are made. There is also a rosé and a white wine.
The wine is made by the highly-respected Australian David Baverstock, chief winemaker at Esporao in the Alentejo in mid-Portugal. Vida Nova has been extraordinarily successful since its launch in 2002, selling out in UK supermarkets within days of appearing.
While the lion's share of cases are bought by the singer's massive fan club, the wine has not gone down badly with the critics. Decanter described the first vintage as 'high in alcohol with sweet berry and spicy characters, soft tannins and a long finish.'
Richard's spokesman Bill Latham said of the incident, 'Cliff didn't recognise the wine because it was the end of the day, he'd had a meal, he'd tasted six wines before that. His palate was in no state to taste at that level. It's all ridiculously exaggerated.'
As for Ramsay's claim that Richard pulled him close and whispered, 'Young man, go f*** yourself,' he said, 'The f-word isn't in Cliff's vocabulary.'
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Why are you all so damned puerile? Don't we all have flaws? And - I'm sure - we have more flaws than Sir Cliff Richard. And - for crying out loud - Cliff didn't proclaim to be squeaky clean. Why don't you guys leave him alone?
Get real, guys! Gussy Rikh
Ramsey is not without flaws. He claims to use Richard's wine in the vinaigrette for tuna, does he turn it to vinegar first or does he add vinegar ? Why bother? Tricking palates in this way is a cheap shot at fishing for publicity that can backfire. Been there, seen that, didn't bother with the T-shirt. Maggie Beale
I am waiting breathlessly for the day he gives himself and a restaurant of poseurs food poisoning. He has poisoned most of the restaurant trade in this country. What a creep. Give me the Roux generations or Raymond Blanc any day. P Waddilove
Hooray for Saint Cliff. Ramsay received the perfect riposte to his childish attempt to get a rise out of Cliff Richard and so boost his pathetic image and new tv programme. If Sir Cliff did say what he is supposed to have said, it was mild in comparison to what I would have said had I been in his place. Sir Cliff goes up a lot in my estimation; Ramsay goes even further down, if it is possible for him to go down any further. Chris Baker
Watching Gordon Ramsey take a baseball bat to a series of cakes and jellies may be rather beautiful in an astract way but it is a sick joke in a world when many are dying of hunger. Jamie does kindness, Gordon does violence, only one of them does good. Sandie Redman
Nice trick, maybe a little underhand, but then so are 'celebrity-branded' products. It makes me sick to see how celebrities put their names on mediocre products and sell quantities way out of proportion with normal sales. I wish the public could be more critical and buy products by their own merit, not because there is a name on them. The Vida Nova range was a nice commercial range, but nothing beyond tonnes of other commercial wine out there, and it seems that Cliff was able to see it only when blind. Lisa Gilbee
Gordon Ramsay has gone down in my estimation after taking a number of years for him to get up there in the first place. I stick with my original opinion that for all the interviews on what a 'nice' person he is in 'real' life, he is only happy when he gets full media attention at the cost of someone else's expense.
People like Gordon Ramsay have lost, if they have ever really been, in touch with the real world, real people, real feelings. Enjoy it while you can, Gordon, because the higher you are the further the fall. Lorraine Kelly
My dear old mother had a saying: 'The higher you climb the ladder, the more you show your arse'. Richard Yates, UK
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Why are you all so damned puerile? Don't we all have flaws? And - I'm sure - we have more flaws than Sir Cliff Richard. And - for crying out loud - Cliff didn't proclaim to be squeaky clean. Why don't you guys leave him alone?
