Vignobles Bardet debuts The Lord of The Rings wine range

Vignobles Bardet has launched a The Lord of The Rings wine range.

The collaboration with Middle-earth Enterprises was brokered by Asgard Media, who signed Vignobles Bardet as a client during lockdown.

The three wines each relate to the three regions of Middle-earth where wine is produced: The Shire, Númenor and Dorwinion.

‘”This project was a real passion for Kelvyn Gardner and Thibault Bardet, both sharing a life-long love of the Tolkien world”, said Robyn Cowling, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Asgard.

“Kelvyn sadly passed away before completing the project, so it’s been wonderful taking the reins and seeing this mission through. Vignobles Bardet are winegrowers observing the highest environmental standards. These wines will delight the taste buds of Men, Elves and Hobbits alike. All that’s left to say is, Ho! Ho! Ho! to the bottle we go!”

The first three The Lord of The Rings wines are available for pre-order now at https://vignoblesbardet.com/categorie-produit/le-seigneur-des-anneaux/.

We spoke with Asgard’s Eliot Gardner and Regan Gardner to learn more about the launch…

Eliot, Regan, I understand that the idea for the wine was in part your father Kelvyn’s idea and vision. Can you tell us a little more about his thinking about it particularly the connection between The Lord of the Rings and wine ?
Eliot: He started by asking Thibault Bardet what his dream licences would be. The Lord of The Rings came up and dad jumped on that immediately. Sure enough, the vision was shared by everyone!

Regan: Wine is produced in three areas of Middle-earth: the Shire, Númenor and Dorwinion, the latter being where the favourite wine of Thranduil, the Elven king, came from. Bilbo Baggins kept a large stock of the Shire’s ‘Old Winyard’ in his cellar. Wine plays a part in Tolkien’s world, and our dad believed nothing could be more authentic and compelling for fans than to lift the ‘real’ wines straight from the pages of the books, bringing some of the best of Middle-earth’s flavours to our shores.

Do you remember some of the early discussions around the idea? What sort of things did you consider when developing the concept?
Regan: The first thing I remember was just how excited they were about it! There was an early discussion around which wine should be created, and they came to the decision to create regional wine straight out of Tolkien’s world.

Eliot: It was essential that they be nothing less than as true to the world as possible, not only in taste – which is paramount – but in the presentation as well… When you see the wine on your dinner table, you want to imagine it could truly be the very same drink that’s enjoyed by your favourite characters from the books. I recall Middle-earth Enterprises were excited about the in-universe direction we wanted to go in, as it fits with the immersive style of Tolkien’s storytelling which takes readers on a journey to another world.

How do you think The Lord of The Rings fans will react to this deal?
Eliot: We wanted this to be as close to an in-universe experience as possible, and we think they’ll be excited to finally be able to taste something from within the books!

Regan: We hope that the Tolkien community can see these wines have been passionately developed by fellow fans with the desire to create something we can all be proud of.