Interview: Gary Barlow on his South African Wine Tour for ITV

ITV commissioned five episodes with the multi-platinum Take That star to explore another passion of his… discovering new food and wine! 

Gary starts his journey on the Western Cape of South Africa exploring the vineyards and learning about the variety of grapes, their sustainability, and what food is paired perfectly with each before driving through breathtaking scenery. Joined by friends along the way, Gary also heads further North to embark on a safari experience of a lifetime and enjoys the hustle and bustle of Johannesburg, where he discovers a wine revolution taking place!

Tell us about this new series and why you chose South Africa?
I’ve not really done anything like this on TV before, so in terms of where the idea came from, I wanted it to be something new. I was fortunately already travelling around the world a bit for my own wine business and getting to see these amazing estates, and just having these brand new experiences I felt people should know about all this and the process too! So I had a call with ITV and suggested this very simple idea of me travelling with friends, wine, food, and having good times and they were like, ‘We love it!’ and before I knew it we got together with the production company and came up with the ideas
about what the series could be. I suggested South Africa because I had recently been there and said, ‘If there’s a place to start that has the ‘wow’ factor, South Africa is it’… It just looks incredible, it’s such an
interesting place. I feel like I see a lot of shows about Italy for example, so this felt like a really good choice. The series also inspired me to write some original pieces of music to accompany it too! They
are very hidden in there as it’s not a show about music, but that’s not to say I’ve slipped a few of our classics in there as well.

It looks like you had the best adventure, what were your most favourite moments?

Honestly? The whole trip from start to finish! I mean you can have a rough plan of what
you’re going to do, but until you’re there things can and often did change. I already said to
the team that I didn’t want to come across as any kind of wine expert, because I’m not. I just
wanted to approach this as someone who is trying to learn about it all and hopefully show
the audience that they don’t need to feel too daunted by wine or knowing what to choose
when they next order in a restaurant. I didn’t want it to be too ‘snooty’ because sometimes
wine can have that reputation and I feel that’s what we have done. I got really into it, it was a
lot of fun.

You met up with a host of friends during your travels, how did you choose who
to take?

For this it was a case of who was around during that time, who wasn’t on tour or away doing
things and I had been looking for something to do with my good friend Ben [Shephard] for
ages so I was thrilled he could make this work. I had recently done some music things with
the wonderful Mica [Paris] so that was an easy one, and lovely Jane [McDonald] came to
see Take That whilst we were on tour so we sorted that then, and my songwriting friend Eliot
[Kennedy] was the one who first go me into wine, so it all just naturally came together. The
only one we didn’t have until very late – and only because I never realised she actually lived
there – was Michaela [Strachan]. It was brilliant to be reunited with her because she fronted
the very first TV show that Take That ever performed on called The Hitman and Her back in
1991 so with that incredible history we shared, it all just felt perfect.

Did Ben [Shephard] give me any hosting or presenting tips? It was funny because the first
few days when I had my friend Eliot [Kennedy] with me, who obviously isn’t a host – he does
what I do – so when Ben arrived I was thinking ‘Ah, a real host!’ and it meant I didn’t have to
try so hard! It was really nice to have him there and help me hold it all together!

What will you take away with you from the trip?

The first thing I would say is you can often judge a country by the people and the whole
community in South Africa, I found to be so warm and lovely. It’s also a country that’s been a
complicated country over the years but it’s a country really moving forward. They welcome
tourism and tourists with open arms – if it wasn’t a wonderful place to visit, I wouldn’t be on
TV saying it! It really is a superb place, and despite this series having five episodes, we’ve
only scratched the surface really of somewhere that’s incredibly diverse. It’s a big continent,
you could easily be there for months! Would I go back again? Without a doubt. It’s
somewhere I’ve been to a lot over the years, I love South Africa, it’s such a wonderful place.
It has the best sunsets, the best star-filled skies… There are a lot of things that I will always
remember it for.

Your This Life tour looked pretty gruelling with all the stairs and dancing as well as moments of you pretending to be a TV host on stage – did this South African trek help with your fitness and preparation for this?

I actually filmed this before the Take That tour started! But by then I knew what the show was
when I was out in South Africa, so during the days when you’re travelling for three hours, I’d
be listening to my tapes and things, so I knew what I was doing [on tour]. Touring is on my
mind a lot when we’re about to start one.

You must know exactly what the Take That lads like after all these years, so if you could choose a destination for them to visit – where would you take them and what would you do?

Ooh, anywhere in the world? They are very different, Mark and Howard. But knowing them
as I do, I would say New York for Mark, definitely. He loves NYC! And he loves a good
coffee, so I’d take him to a good place for coffee in New York. There’s a place called Blank
Street Coffee, who do really good coffee and he would love that.

Now, Howard is the complete opposite and I think I’d take him for a bit of breakfast at a golf
course, so he can be fed and then go out and have a play. He’d have a great day and it
would have to be somewhere in Scotland or Ireland I think. I’ll quote him by saying, ‘The best
golf courses in the world are in Ireland and Scotland’. So, either of those places would make
Howard very happy.

For me – when I’m not touring or visiting places for my wine – I’d be with my wife and we are
big fans of Paris, France. We find it very romantic and there’s a hotel called Hotel Costes
that we always enjoy having dinner in when we are there. It’s very Parisian and you can
have a nice cocktail, a nice glass of wine, and good food. It’s very cool.

Gary Barlow’s Wine Tour: South Africa airs Monday 11th – Friday 15th
November at 2pm on ITV1 and ITVX.