Sam Neill visits for promotional tour

Simon Dougan of Yellow Door, who cooked lunch for Sam Neill at Yellow Door’s new restaurant in Belfast Furniture Mall, chats to the actor at a wine and dine lunch for specially invited guests.

Hollywood film star, Sam Neill was back home in his native Northern Ireland recently to promote his Two Paddocks wine brand.

Sam, who comes originally from Omagh in County Tyrone, has starred in more than 60 films including Jurassic Park, Omen III and The Piano as well as numerous television series including The Tudors and Peaky Blinders, but more recently he has been putting in star performances as a winemaker.

Under the Two Paddocks label, Sam produces award-winning Pinot Noir and Riesling wines at his winery in the Central Otago region of New Zealand’s South Island.

Portadown-based Robb Brothers Wine Merchants, who are the Northern Irish distributor of Neill’s wines, organised a two-day promotional wine tour taking in a number of wine signings and dinner dates as part of the Hollywood star’s fleeting visit back home.

“The timing has been perfect,” explained Charles Robb, director of Robb Brothers Wine Merchants. “Sam has just received two gold medals at the International Wine Challenge 2014 in London, one for his First Paddock Pinot Noir 2010 and the other for his Last Chance Pinot Noir 2010, which was also awarded a regional trophy.”

As part of the tour, Sam Neill participated in the official opening of Yellow Door’s latest restaurant at the Belfast Furniture Mall on the Boucher Road in Belfast and took part in dinner events at The Graze and The Ivory restaurants in Belfast and Armagh Rugby Club as well as visiting a number of other clients of Robb Brothers.