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Kiwi Invivo wine partners Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron and Sarah Jessica Parker. Photo / Supplied
Before Sarah Jessica Parker started filming her second season of And Just Like That … she went on a trip down memory lane with two special Kiwi friends last week.
Kiwi Invivo wine partners Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron have been in partnership with the US Sex and the City mega-star since 2019, creating a range of wines called Invivo X SJP.
Two months ago the Invivo duo were in Ireland as part of their UK business partner Graham Norton’s wedding festivities and on the same trip met Parker in midtown Manhattan’s famous Baccarat Hotel to blend their fourth vintage. Last week they were back Stateside, this time mixing it up a little with down-home bonding in the star’s hometown.
“Last week we hit the road with Sarah Jessica in the US and we travelled with her back to her hometown Cincinnati,” Lightbourne tells Spy.
“We ate at her favourite local lunch place called Skyline Chili – famous in Ohio for their chili dishes! “
The trio chowed down on hotdogs and chilli spaghetti and later had meetings with customers, visiting the head office of Kroger, the largest Supermarket chain in the USA which has just listed Invivo X SJP in 1500 stores.
Lightbourne says the visit attracted a lot of local media and the Kroger deal means the SJP Sauvignon Blanc is rapidly becoming one of the most popular in the States.
The boys and winegrowers alike were floored by Parker’s rapidly growing viticulturist knowledge, demonstrated when she spoke at a winemakers’ lunch held for special guests from across the country at a waterside restaurant in Greenwich.
“Sarah Jessica also told the guests something Rob and I didn’t know. Before we became partners she was already a customer, buying our wine when she visited Ireland, which we were pretty chuffed about.”
Parker told guests the trio was honoured to share their enthusiasm for this special wine from Marlborough, New Zealand, with wine lovers everywhere.
Back in NYC, it was rooftop parties for the Invivo lads. With Parker, they held a distributors’ dinner at Roof at Park South Hotel and then the boys were guests at Air New Zealand’s rooftop party at Edge at Hudson Yards, an outdoor viewing platform 101 storeys high over Manhattan.
Six60 was there to perform while Lightbourne and Cameron mixed with the 150 VIP guests, including Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran and chair Dame Therese Walsh, former Prime Minister Helen Clark, Tourism Minister Stuart Nash, and Oscar-winning actor Keisha Castle-Hughes.
In that same week, Lightbourne and Cameron were named finalists for Person of the Year from Wine Enthusiast Magazine.
Lightbourne says it is like the Oscars of wine, and the pair are the only nominees from outside of the US. They will attend the awards in San Francisco in January – no word yet if Norton or Parker will be their dates.
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