Sting reveals he was duped into buying Italian wine estate by aristocratic owner

From his idyllic estate in the heart of Tuscany he produces award-winning wines, but they were not always quite so acclaimed.

Sting has revealed that he was duped into buying his property, Il Palagio, by its aristocratic owner after the duke gave him a glass of one of Italy's most celebrated red wines but passed it off as his own.

The sleight of hand convinced the British rock star to buy the estate and its vineyards – it was only later that he realised that the wine produced on the land he had acquired was fairly ordinary plonk.

Falling for the ruse made him determined to turn around the estate, located in a part of Tuscany nicknamed “Chiantishire” for its popularity among British expatriates, and ensure that within a few years he was producing decent wine wine.

He has done that, and more – in 2016 one of his wines, a red named Sister Moon after one of his songs, was declared to be one of Italy’s finest 100 wines.

Other wines that he and his wife, Trudy Styler, produce include a red called When We Dance, a spumante called Message in a Bottle and a white called Baci Sulla Bocca – Kisses on the Lips.

The hard work he has put in over the years was a means of “avenging” the subterfuge of the estate’s previous owner, an Italian aristocrat named Duke Simone Vincenzo Velluti Zati di San Clemente.

“He offered us a glass of red from a carafe during one of our early visits to Il Palagio,” Sting told Sette, a weekly news magazine.

“We were negotiating the purchase. We liked the property a lot, even though it was in ruins. The duke asked me if I wanted to taste the wine produced by the estate and I said yes. It was an excellent wine and that convinced me to buy the vineyards as well. It was only later that we found out that the duke had served us a Barolo and not his own wine.”

Produced in the northern region of Piedmont from the nebbiolo grape, Barolo is regarded as one of Italy’s greatest wines.

It was the reaction of friends and family invited that made Sting realise that the wine was not quite as good as he had been led to believe.

“When we served the wine from the estate to our guests, I saw that someone was emptying their glass into a flowerbed.

“It was then that we decided to avenge ourselves and to show that it was possible to produced excellent wine from the vineyards at Palagio. Our whole Tuscan adventure has really been a way of getting our own back,” Sting joked.

Growing up in a working-class family in Wallsend in Northumberland, he said he had not the faintest idea about wine as a young man. He did not drink a glass of wine until he was in his late twenties.

“No one there drank wine. Wine was something that you only saw in films. We drank beer. I can’t drink beer any more. Maybe a glass, but only now and then.”

Sting and his wife bought Il Palagio, which dates from the 16^th century, in 1999. Stretching across 900 acres, it is located south of Florence n the Chianti region of Tuscany. They produce not only wine but also honey and olive oil.

Last month the former Police frontman opened a pizzeria on the estate. “Come and join the gang down at the new Il Palagio pizzeria and wine bar, where you can get fabulous pizza, try all our wines and even some local Tuscan craft beer,” he wrote on Instagram.

The estate also boasts a farm shop offering oil, honey, wine and salami, which is made from a regional breed of pig.