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In an email interview, Bocelli said he spent hours in the vineyards as a boy and also worked with his father and brother in the cellar. "It was always a sort of miracle to smell the fermentation and taste the wine afterward," said Bocelli, who is blind. Bocelli's singing career, which is ongoing, had a direct effect on the winery, said Joshua Hanson, director of Seattle-based August Wine Group, importer for Bocelli Family Wines since 2005 and co-owner of the brand. When the tenor began traveling the world with his career he learned more about wine, bringing back some of the world's best bottles as well as information on the latest in cellar techniques to share with his late father, Alessandro, and brother Alberto, the chief winemaker and estate manager. The family brought in professionals to help elevate their wines and now make small quantities of high-end wines exclusively from their own grapes. They also have partnered with local growers to make a sangiovese, Bocelli Rosso Toscana, and Bocelli Prosecco sparkling wine, which have a suggested retail price of $20 each. While Andrea Bocelli is involved in promoting the wines -- and has been known to burst into a little impromptu song at tasting events
-- the labels don't carry anything but the family name. "Our whole strategy from day one has been to ground it continually in their generational history," said Hanson. "They've been making very good wine for 130 years and they're very serious about it. It's not a new, kind of,
'I'll give wine a try because it's sexy.'" ___ Online: Dan Aykroyd wine: Drew Barrymore wine: Jolie-Pitt wine: Bocelli wine:
http://www.danaykroydwines.com/
http://www.barrymorewines.com/
http://www.miraval-provence.com/
http://www.bocellifamilywines.com/
[Associated
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