Few people have the capital to start a winery, particularly now, when the prospect of turning a profit is dimmer than ever. Depending on location, vineyard property ranges from $10,000 to $500,000 an acre. Add production equipment, staff, licensing, vineyard management and overhead, and you need to spend millions before you release your first bottle.
Perhaps that is why high-tech entrepreneurs, rather than farmers and everyday folks, are the ones putting down roots. As the saying goes, “How do you make a small fortune in the wine business? Start with a large fortune.”
It’s another game when celebrities easily plunk down millions just to put their name on a label. Their name recognition gives them a leg up on some obscure high-tech millionaire unknown to anyone outside of his business circle. Hollywood stars like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attracted reams of articles when they founded Château Miraval in 2008, although their ugly, high-stakes divorce probably cost more than their Provence estate. I wonder if any of these operations turn a profit or it’s just an expensive vanity project.
I happen to like Château Miraval’s rosé, but its success probably has more to do with oversight from the Perrin family (Château de Beaucastel) than the couple’s familiarity with winemaking.
The list of celebrity wines is voluminous: Two Wolves (Pink), Inglenook (Francis Ford Coppola), Il Palagio (Sting), Prophet & Poet (Jessica Biel), LVE (John Legend). Add the sports world, and you find Doubleback (Drew Bledsoe), Charles Woodson (Intercept), Domaine Curry (Stephen Curry), Ernie Els Wines (Ernie Els), Greg Norman Estates (Greg Norman) and Gretzky Estates Winery (Wayne Gretzky).
Are their wines any good, or are buyers more motivated by star power?
Although I’m certain that many of these well-known people are content to let professionals carry the load of making good wine, others get more involved. Pink, for instance, took classes through UC Davis and WSET after she founded Two Wolves. Coppola’s hands-on approach is notable: He restored one of Napa Valley’s most historic properties and reunited Inglenook’s legendary vineyards. C.J. McCollum, guard for the Atlanta Hawks, finalizes the blends even if samples are shipped to him when he is on the road.
Very few of these wines are inexpensive, lest they be dismissed by competitive fellow stars. Inglenook’s outstanding estate cabernet sauvignon sells for more than $100 a bottle. Jessica Biel’s Prophet & Poet Black Crown blend retails for $550 a bottle. Drew Bledsoe’s Doubleback wines cost between $130 and $200 a bottle.
C.J. McCollum recently told me that wine exchanges and tastings are common among basketball players. He often tastes with Carmelo Anthony, who launched The Seventh Estate in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and Tony Parker, who acquired a stake in Château La Mascaronne in southern France. McCollum’s excellent wines are more reasonably priced at around $50 a bottle, but these gatherings often see expensive bottles from deep cellars. I’ll have more to say on this operation in a later post.
Other stars aren’t so inclined to make trophy wines. Greg Norman, for instance, always insisted on making wines for everyday consumers, ranging in price from $12 to $20. Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart collaborated with Treasury Wine Estates to promote 19 Crimes, a clever Australian label costing around $15 a bottle. Although the wines are passable to average consumers, their augmented reality labels are the real attraction.
Behind the best of these celebrity wines are talented winemakers who live in relative obscurity, drowned out by celebrity winemakers who use their fame to generate sales. That’s hardly a knock on them; marketing means everything to turning a profit. Why shouldn’t they capitalize on their name? Hopefully, buyers are wise enough to judge the wine not by the owner’s acting ability or prowess on the field but by the wine. You can’t judge a wine by the label any more than you can judge a book by its cover.
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