Downton Abbey Follows Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie into the Wine-Making Business

Even though a Downton Abbey–branded tea may make all of the merchandising sense in the world, the period drama’s first foray into the beverage market will be not of the herbal but of the vintage variety.

Knockout Licensing—a company that manages the show’s licensing in the U.S. and Canada—has teamed with Wines That Rock and Dulong Grands Vins de Bordeaux to produce Bordeaux Clarets and Bordeaux Blancs bearing the Downton Abbey name. The wines will not simply share the title of the popular Julian Fellowes–created costume drama; they will also offer period-appropriate authenticity by “recreat[ing] the rich Bordeaux wines imported by the British aristocracy from France in the early 1900s,” a press release reveals.

To achieve this authenticity, Metro writes, the “wine will come from grapes grown on the same vines and from the same soil as the era depicted in Downton Abbey.”

Bill Zysblat, co-owner of Wines That Rock—a company known for its Pink Floyd-, Grateful Dead–, and Rolling Stones–licensed wines—announced, via press release, “We are working with The Dulong Grands Vins De Bordeaux vineyards. . . . They have over 130 years of experience in creating the world’s best wines so these are wines the Crawley family would have been proud to serve at Downton.”


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