NEW YORK CITY—Independent Dutch production company Appelbaum has signed Natalie Oliveros—best known as Vivid Entertainment adult movie star Savanna Samson—to host The Lady in Red, an international travel series about wine. The New York City-based Ms. Oliveros has studied wine since 1999 and currently co-owns the La Fiorita vineyard in Montalcino, Italy with all-star wine maker Roberto Cipresso. Appelbaum and Oliveros are shooting a pilot in Italy this week.
Appelbaum creative director Jan Kooyman said, “We were looking for ways to extend our knowledge about how to make a popular show about wine and trying to take it international. When we found Natalie, we knew she would be great for hosting our show about wine. We are thrilled she wants to work with us and we are very positive this show will be interesting for a lot of channels. With so many wine afficionados around the globe, this will be a show that can air in a lot of countries.”
Before becoming a top-rated vintner, Oliveros enjoyed celebrity as Vivid Girl Savanna Samson, a contract star with Vivid Entertainment, one of the world’s leading adult film companies. She won several AVN Awards during her career from 2000 to 2010. She loved performing for Vivid, but there was always a passion for wine. When she was a child, she helped her family make wine in their basement. In 2005, she asked Italian winemaker and consultant Roberto Cipresso to help find a blend of grapes local to Tuscany that would produce her ideal flavor. Together they produced a red wine that she named Sogno Uno, meaning "Dream One." World renowned wine critic Robert Parker gave Sogno Uno a rating of 90 to 91 out of 100, and described it as "awfully good." Since 2011, Natalie Oliveros has been a partner and owner of Roberto Cipresso's La Fiorita in Montalcino, producing a high end Brunello.
The Lady in Red episodes will follow Oliveros as she travels the world and explores the ins and outs of some of the greatest wine areas, from full-bodied reds to the sparkling sensation of Champagne.
“When Appelbaum reached out to me, asking if I would like to host an international wine show, I was thrilled by the idea," Oliveros said. "Wine is big passion of mine and there are so many great stories to tell. After several discussions, I discovered that I really liked their views on direction for the series. At this moment we are shooting in Italy and it all feels very natural. It's a wine show with a company called Appelbaum. This has to be a fruitful joint venture.”
Appelbaum and Oliveros are speaking with several distribution companies and networks in the USA and abroad. “We really want to work with a party that believes in a long term relationship, as we have ideas to make multiple series about this great subject of wine,” said Appelbaum CEO Roland Duong. They will announce further news before MIPTV, the world’s most-established TV and digital content market and the biggest gathering of entertainment industry professionals, in April 2015.
For further information about Appelbaum, email Jan Kooyman, here or call +31 6 22802596; for information about Vivid, email Jackie Martin or call 800-762-4761.
