Iniesta starts own wine company

Spanish World Cup hero Andrés Iniesta is hoping to score more success with the launch of his own wine company, Bodegas Iniesta.

Red, white and rosé wines from the €9m project, based near Iniesta’s home town of Fuentealbilla in the province of Albacete, will be available from the 2010 harvest.

According to local reports, the new bodega will produce about 700,000 bottles a year, with local grape variety Bobal used for the red wines, and Macabeo and Chardonnay for the whites.

‘Wine is destined to be one of my great motivations,’ said the Barcelona winger, whose dramatic extra-time winner defeated Holland in the World Cup final in Johannesburg on 11 July.

‘I want the wine to be a reflection of who I am. The standards are set high, but so are the key pieces to meet them: hard work, family support and knowledge.’

Iniesta is intensely proud of his roots in Fuentealbilla, where his grandfather ran the local bar and his family have sold wine from their vines in bulk for several years.

The aim is for Bodegas Iniesta’s wines to be sold in Spain, and exported to markets including the UK, Germany and Japan.

Initial reports suggest that they will be sold in restaurants at a price of about EUR40 per bottle.

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Written by Richard Woodard