AN award-winning off-licence manager is so passionate about wine that he is set to start stomping the grapes himself, at a vineyard he has bought in Italy.

David Gilson, owner of the Oakdene Service Station, Southport Road, Ulnes Walton, near Preston, has owned the garage for around 18 years.

He started the family-run business from scratch and last year it had a turnover of £7 million. David's hard work has also netted him a bundle of top awards and last week he won the prestigious title of Independent Off-Licence Retailer of the Year.

Now the wine lover -- who stocks 900 different types of wine -- has bought a plot of land on the coast in Italy, where he hopes to produce his own plonk.

David, 56, said: "When I bought the garage I didn't buy it to sell wine. I bought it to respray cars, then the shop started taking off. So we demolished the whole site and started it again. And last year we had a £7 million turnover!

"Now I have bought a plot of land, in di Marchi, on the Adriatic side of the country near Tuscany. Pavarotti lives there and apparently Michelangelo had a house there because he loved the cheese so much!

"I'm going to start growing vines and making wine. That won't be for a year or two though, because the vines have to grow and the wine has to mature." David's shop, managed by his son Mark, became so successful he acquired another two stores which are now managed by his sons. A shop in nearby Croston is managed by Paul while the Wigan leg of the business is managed by David's son Michael.

David said: "We get people coming to the Ulnes Walton shop from all over. We had some people telephone from Chester to see if we had a certain type of wine left, then they came and bought six crates of it.

"New customers are always amazed, it's like an Aladdins Cave inside. Nobody expects us to have the choice we do. And I don't think of it as work. It isn't work when it's a passion."