It's popular to live on a winery, but not everyone is serious about making wine. However, these five stars have really enjoyed the job.
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5 European celebrities who you probably didn't know have been winemakers
It's popular to live on a winery, but not everyone is serious about making wine. However, these five stars have really enjoyed the job.
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Gérard Depardieu
When he bought his winery in Tigné, France in 1988, it measured only 62 acres, but it has quadrupled in size since then. Depardieu makes 10 varieties of wine and sells them all over the world. The actor likes to get his hands dirty in the vineyard and at the presses. And of course, he also enjoys sampling the result.
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Sting
The singer maintains a 914-acre vineyard in Tuscany, where he spends the summers with his family. In 2007, he produced the first vintage, called "Sister Moon," which is also the title of one of his songs. The name is meant to show that the cultivation of the vines is aligned with the phases of the moon.
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Antonio Banderas
In 2009, the actor fulfilled his longtime dream and bought a winery in his home country of Spain. Banderas now owns two vineyards in the northern Castile and León region. His wines are sold under the Anta Banderas label and have been awarded numerous prizes.
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Gianna Nannini
The pop singer comes from Tuscany, where she helped with the grape harvest as a child. In 2002, Gianna Nannini purchased a winery near her hometown Siena called "Certosa di Belriguardo," where she grows the grape variety Sangiovese. The result is a standard red wine that is suitable for all occasions.
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Cliff Richard
In 2000, British singer Cliff Richard began his career as a winemaker in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. He had been vacationing regularly in Portugal since the 1960s. His wine is called "Vida Nova" (new life) and 130,000 bottles are produced each year.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Revierfoto
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Gérard Depardieu's latest film, "Saint Amour," has just hit cinemas in Germany. The actor plays a man who travels with his son through a wine region, where they work through their strained relationship between the vines.
14 bottles a day
Depardieu in wine country is certainly a fitting role for the French star. In addition to acting, he is also well known for his alcohol addition. He once said in an interview that he consumes up to 14 bottles of alcoholic beverages a day, preferring wine, beer, champagne, whiskey and pastis.
His drinking has gotten him in to quite a bit of trouble and has been the cause of 18 car accidents. Depardieu regularly ignores his doctors' advice and offers the gossip press plenty of scandals. Despite having undergone a liver transplant and two bypass surgeries, he has not given up alcohol - particularly not his beloved wine.
Never ending supply of wine
Depardieu is able to keep his stock of wine full thanks to his own winery, Chateau Tigné in the Loire Valley, which he purchased in 1988. The actor owns another dozen or so wineries around the world, in France, Sicily, Morocco and Algeria.
The result: wines that are fiery and authentic - like Depardieu himself. And he seems to know what he's doing, since connoisseurs approve of the stuff.
For many celebrities that have bought wineries, winemaking remains just a hobby. Click through the gallery above for a handful of stars that take it seriously.