How the peculiar duke deceived Sting: 'With a small lie he led me to buy an entire estate of 365 acres!'

Renowned British musician Sting has owned a beautiful estate in the heart of Tuscany for years where he produces top-quality wines, and now he is discovering that his start in Italy was challenging and full of surprises.

The Daily Telegraph reports that he discovered that a member of the aristocracy had tricked him into buying the Il Palagio estate. The duke gave him to taste “one of the most prized Italian wines,” which he presented as his own.

In an ingenious way, he convinced the rock star to buy the estate and vineyards, and the naive Sting only later realized that the wine from the purchased vineyards was nothing special.

When he realized that he had been deceived, Sting decided to make every effort and in a few years managed to start producing decent wine in his vineyards, located in the part of Tuscany popular among British immigrants.

He could not even dream of the success he achieved. In 2016, one of his wines, the red wine Sister Moon, named after one of the songs, was included in the list of the 100 best in Italy. Other wines that he and his wife Trudie Styler produced were When We Dance, Message in a Bottle, and Baci Sulla Bocca (Kisses on the Lips)

The hard work he had invested over the years was his ‘revenge’ on the previous owner, an aristocrat named Duke Simone Vincenzo Velluti Zati di San Clemente .

- He offered us a glass of red from a jug on the occasion of the first visit to the estate, Sting told Sette magazine.

- We negotiated a purchase. We really liked the property, even though it was in ruins. The duke asked me if I wanted to taste the wine produced on the estate, and I replied that I wanted to. It was an excellent wine and so he convinced me to buy vineyards as well. It was only later that I realized that the duke was serving us Barolo, not his own wine, he said. Barolo is produced in the Piedmont region and is considered one of the best Italian wines.

Sting also discovered when he realized that the Duke had deceived him.

- Friends and family came to visit us. After we served them wine from the estate, I saw one of the guests empty glass into a flower bed. It was the moment when I decided to show that it is possible to produce great wine from a vineyard in Palagia.

Sting grew up in a working-class family in Northumberland province and knew almost nothing about wines as a young man. It was only when he approached his thirties that he tasted wine for the first time.

- Nobody drank wine in my area. We only saw it in the movies. We drank beer. I can't stand it now. Maybe a pint from time to time.

Sting and his wife Trudie bought Il Palagio in 1999, a villa dating back to the 16th century and spread over 365 acres of land. It is located south of Florence in the district of Chianti. In addition to wine, the farm produces honey and olive oil. Last month, Sting opened a pizzeria on the property.

There is also a shop on Sting’s estate where you can buy olive oil, honey, wine, and salami, which is made from a regional breed of pig.

By: Olivia J. - Gossip Whispers