Sir Cliff Richard, Wine and the Algarve

The interest in wine is passionately held, although Sir Cliff says his tastes are 'commercial rather than elitist'. So much so, that he has recently gone into the wine business himself, emulating Sam Neill, Gérard Depardieu, Greg Norman and Francis Ford Coppola in the celebrity wine stakes by launching a Portuguese wine called Vida Nova. Sir Cliff concedes that, for the time being at least, the project is a 'ridiculously expensive hobby', but says that making money out of Vida Nova doesn't really matter to him. 'I love the Algarve and I want to give something back to the area. People are surprised that I've set up a vineyard, but I'm surprised that they're surprised, frankly. Actors and singers have always branched out.'

What is genuinely surprising is the location of the 16-acre vineyard. Even to Portuguese wine lovers, viticulture in the Algarve is a bit of a joke. 'Some of the guidebooks say that the Algarve bottles headaches for tourists, but I'm delighted with the first vintage of Vida Nova and the reaction from critics has been hugely encouraging.' Even at £7.99 a bottle, the wine is doing extremely well, thank you. When Tesco's website released a small parcel of Vida Nova last month, the wine sold out within 24 hours, providing a vinous example of the famous, if intangible, 'Cliff factor'. 'I'm overwhelmed by the reaction, because, just like music, wine is so subjective. It's a thrill that people like my wine.'

Vida Nova was the result of a chance meeting. The Quinta do Moinho, near Albufeira, already had a three-acre vineyard when Sir Cliff bought it eight years ago, but the grapes were so bad that the previous owners gave them away to the local co-operative. Sir Cliff planted 10 acres of fig trees when he moved in, but had no intention of making wine until he was introduced to David Baverstock, a Portugal-based Australian, who makes some of the country's best reds at Esporão in the Alentejo. 'David tested the soils and said, "There's no reason why you couldn't grow grapes here." We dug a few bore-holes and it was all systems go.'

At the start, Baverstock asked Sir Cliff what sort of wine he liked. His answer was 'soft, velvety and full-bodied, not something where the tannins crash into my mouth'. More middle of the road than heavy metal, as it were. Sir Cliff's wish-list more or less describes the texture of the 2001 Vida Nova, an impressive blend of Trincadeira, Aragonez and Shiraz and easily the best wine in the Algarve. He made 27,000 bottles of the 2001, but plans to increase production to meet the substantial demand. Using grapes from a friend's vineyard as well as his own new plantings, Sir Cliff hopes to be releasing 100,000 bottles a year within five years.

How does making wine compare with singing or selling more than 250 million records? 'I love the euphoria of being a vintner. I can put my head round the door of the kitchen and see the vineyards. It's a bit like Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence, except that this is Twenty Years in the Algarve.' Sir Cliff adds that wine might play an even more important part in his life in the future. 'I want to slow down,' he says. 'I'm thinking of retiring and this is a project I can do for the next 20 years. Maybe this has come at the right time.'

For now, Sir Cliff is happiest as a 'rock and roll singer' out on the road. That's where he first got interested in wine, at the age of 21. 'We were filming Summer Holiday in Greece and we used to go down to the harbour in Athens at the end of the day and order a plate of grilled fish and a bottle of wine. It might have been retsina, which wasn't the best way to start, but it got me into drinking wine.' Back in England in the 1960s, Sir Cliff alternated between German wine and Mateus Rosé, a wine he still likes to drink on the terrace in Albufeira. 'It's light and sweet, but it tastes great on a scorching afternoon.'