NBA Legend Dwyane Wade Guesses Cheap vs. Expensive Wines _ Bon Appétit

D-Wayne. D-Wayne. This is 2016 Grand Cru Clos De Vu show. Mayo Camose, my friend. Oh, Jesus. It ain't cheap. It's definitely not cheap. Hey, this is sommelier Andre Mack, and this is Through the Grapevine, a celebrity wine tasting with a twist, where we test their abilities to taste the difference between cheap and expensive wines, all while having a great conversation. Joining me today is a Chicago native, three-time NBA champ, fast food aficionado, wine enthusiast, and husband to Gabrielle Union. Welcome, D-Wayne Wade. Thank you. Thanks for calling me by my name and not Gabrielle Union's husband first. I appreciate that. You're awesome. All right, so today, I've paired five wines with five rounds of conversation, ranging in price points, your affordable option, daily dose, the nice gift, the special occasion, and then the luxury life. Okay. And at the end of each round, I'll ask you what you think each wine is worth. Okay. Fair? Fair. And finally, I'll pour you a full glass of your favorite wine as a bonus round as we calculate and tally your score. All right. All right? Yeah. All right, first wine. Give it a swirl. Yeah. Give it a sniffy. What are you thinking? I would immediately say buttery, but I don't feel like it's buttery. Got it. But it's smooth, right? Yeah. Real smooth, like a vanilla, like a chardonnay. High acid? Yeah, high acid, yeah. Is your mouth starting to water? Yeah, my tongue gets a little dry, just a little bit, but not bad enough to where you're like, not that, but yeah. So, you're a huge NBA star. You've split your time. You were born in Chicago and spent a lot of time in Miami. Who shows you the most love when you touch down? Oh, it's not even close. Miami. Oh, really? Really? I think maybe like a small portion of people know I'm from Chicago, but everybody in Miami, you know, they was there in the run, you know, from 2003 until, you know, I retired at 19. And so, it's a little Rockstar-like when I go back. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's not bad. But this is an easy drink. Yeah, no, totally. This is what I feel like it is. Dwayne, you were a fierce competitor throughout your career. What were your favorite players to play against? Hmm, well, the greats. Like, I love playing against Kobe. Yeah. And I love playing against Allen Iverson. And these are guys that, when you're young, you grow up idolizing. Yeah. These are the individuals when you watch the game of basketball, the ones that, you know, the Magics, the Jordans, the Valeries, the ones that kind of get you kind of locked in on the game. And so, when I got into the league, like, being able to play against Kobe and play against Iverson, two of the guys who were idols of mine. Yeah. That were definitely two. But then, you know, you got the LeBron James guy over there in Cleveland when I got in. Every time we played against each other, it was a moment. It was a story. It was a conversation. And so, you know, you love playing against greats. So for me, every time I got a chance to match up, you know, against someone who I looked at as an equal or ahead of me and see what I was chasing, like, I love those moments. If you had to put together your all-time NBA squad, who's your top five? That's tough. But it's my favorite players? Your favorites, yeah. Okay. Well, then that's different. Okay. So, Alan Iverson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, top three. Okay. Right? So they're in my team. Right? So I'm guard heavy. LeBron James, number four. And Shaquille O'Neal, number five. Okay. That'd be my top five favorite players. I love that. And out of those players, which two players would you like to see play one-on-one in their prime? Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, of course. Yes. Like, yes. Who wouldn't want to see that? Yes. You know? All time. Wow. Yeah, I would totally love that. Yeah, that's a showdown. All right. How are you feeling about this wine? This is solid. I mean, you know, this is one of the wines that I would tell somebody, if you are, like, you're just getting into wine, you don't really understand it, and you want to drink something, this is a good first wine right here. Yeah, no, totally. Very easy. Yeah, I think it's got great acidity, it's lively, it pops, it kind of, like, jump starts the evening. Yeah, it's not complex. It's not a complex wine. Not at all. It don't feel heavy on the alcohol. Correct. You know, which is very good because it's light. And so, yeah, this is definitely coming to the table to start the meal off with this. And ease into it. Yeah. This is beautiful. All right, so where are you at with this in price point? Where are you thinking you're headed? So I'm going to go with $12.25. I like how you look down at that card. I like how long you pause. I'm just looking at the card. All right, so today we have the Las Lilas. This is Vino Verde from Portugal. Oh, I've never had one. And this is our affordable option. See, I didn't think you would give me the affordable option up front. I'm like, man, what do you do that? That's too easy. No, no, but I think at some point you have to throw all that out and go where you've got. You know, this wine, it's not an overthinker. It's not complex in any way, but it's refreshing. And it kind of gets the juices moving. Yeah, I feel like it wakes your palate up. Yeah, absolutely. It's very crisp. Wine has always been a placeholder in time for me. It's less about the wine. It's about the wine, but it's more about the conversations and the people you're sharing it with. You know, it sets the mood and the tone. And generally, when I like to start things and meet new people, this is the way I like to start the evening. All right, you ready for round two? I'm ready. All right. So another white wine. Mmm. Yeah, you like that color? Well, yeah. That's the first thing you notice, right? Compared to the last one. Oh, okay. Yeah? You feeling that? Yeah, I'm feeling this. Okay, right? Do you smell melon? Yeah, it's definitely melon. I give the guy like a slight hint of like butterscotch. Remember those little yellow candies in the yellow wrapper? Yeah, my granddad used to give them to me. Yep, mine too. Mine too, mine too. He'd slap me a few. Yep, yep. I did work in restaurants growing up, and I worked a lot in San Antonio. I was at a steakhouse, and I used to see a lot of NBA coaches come in. And then I started to see a little bit more of the players start to come in. And that just reminded me a lot of like you, Krish Bosh, and LeBron like having these dinners with incredible wine that we got to witness from the side through social media. That seemed like awesome. Tell me about that. Were there like cool pairings and stuff that you did? Well, yes. I think the one thing is like wine in the NBA, it's been a part of the NBA forever. Yeah. But it was always kind of frowned upon when you think of athletes and alcohol or anything of that sort. And so to be able to be in this space, myself, LeBron, Carmelo, CP, and this generation, to be able to be there, to be the ones that kind of made it more approachable and made it like, hey guys, listen, we athletes, but we do drink. Yeah, yeah. You know, if you don't see anybody doing what you're doing, you don't think it's for you. And the fact and the amazing thing when I talk about wine in a lot of circles, you know, the NBA and the players always come up to the top about like, man, these guys are doing it right. And I'm interested in seeing what the long tail looks like when you talk about the young guys coming into the league and how wine will eventually become a part of our culture. Yeah, yeah. So I'm cool with that. All right, so what are you thinking about here? How are you feeling about this wine here? So... Give it a number. All right. Yeah. I'm going with 1999. OK. 1999. Maybe 98. OK. I see you. OK. So one of my favorite wines to drink, this is White Rioja. This is from Olivia Rivera. This is called Miranda de Azul. So this is mainly a traditional grape made from Maccabeo. And so this is actually $80. This is $75 to $150. This is our special occasion wine. Mm. But it's good. It's good, right? It's very good. It's great. All right, let's move on to the next round. All right. I'm all for two. We're going to go ahead and start with number three. If I get the next three, I'm good. We got our first red wine of the evening. OK. And the fact that, like, you're looking at the color, I'm like, OK, he's on it. He's on it. Yeah. He's looking at it. He's into it. No, I'm into it. You spoke about Shaq. You won a championship with him. Does he have great taste in wine? Or does LeBron have better taste? I've never seen Shaq have a drink. That's interesting. I've never seen Shaq take a drink. What about Partley? Well, yeah, he has great taste. Well, he... You don't want to drink with him. Why not? Because he just keep going. You know, like, some people got limits. Like, you hit it, you're like, ooh, I need to go lay down. Shaq can keep going. So I did. I had a night when I first signed with TNT. He took all of us out. And, you know, Shaq took all of us out. And, you know, we had a night at the Four Seasons where we were just drinking, drinking, drinking different things. Draymond was there. So, you know, we're drinking wine. We're drinking all the other stuff. And let's just say I need a little help upstairs at the end of the night. And Charles was like, hey, where we going next? I'm like, I'm going to bed. So, you know, it's definitely cool to be able to, you know, like you said, once again, even though Shaq and I came from different generations from the standpoint of sport, like, and Draymond is from another generation, to be able to sit down and once again connect through this. You know what I'm saying? Like, we forever have a connection through sitting down and having a few drinks. Yeah, having a few drinks. Yeah. So where you at? So, wait, what prices we got left? I'm not telling you. So I'm like, I like it. I think it's elegant. I don't think it's hella expensive. Mm-hmm. So, I got to go on this one. I'm going to go with this one back to the, like, I don't like that look. No, I didn't do anything. I'm going to go with this one. I'm going to go back to the $20 range. $20 range. Do you think grape, what do you think? What kind? Do you think you know where it's from? These are all bonus, these are all bonus things. No, no, thanks for having me because you know I need something. These are all bonus things, like, just like. Yeah, so I get closer to the Pinot Noir family. Okay. Like a lighter, like a lighter grape. Okay. Like, that's why I love French wines because it's lighter. I don't know where we're at. D-Wade, Dwayne, this is 2016 Grand Cru Clos de Luzon Mayo Camose, my friend. No, Jesus Christ. Hold on, hold on, let me do this. Okay. Not Grand Cru, let me see that. Grand Cru, yeah, so 2016. One of my favorite regions. You did get Pinot Noir right. Thank you, thank you. So this is Pinot Noir from the Holy Grail, from Burgundy. This is Grand Cru, Mayo Camose, one of the top producers from a Grand Cru vineyard in 2016. You know, this wine reminds me a lot of your game, right? It's polished, it's, you know, it's refined, you know, it's like, I was telling someone, it's like, It ain't cheap. It's definitely not cheap. Speaking of that, this wine is about $425. This is the luxury life. I'm trying to do that because I got the price wrong, but I got the grape right. You got the grape right. And once again, I'm not a good shopper, so I'm too busy, so I apologize on these prices. Oh, Mario, you're talking about, like, you know what you like. So glass number four. See, he's an astute student. I see he's looking at the glass, he's looking at the color. All right. You've been name dropped in so many rap lyrics. So, like, I think it's a video clip out there somewhere from our rookie season in the NBA. Karan Bala, who was a career coach of the Heat right now. I love Karan. Him and I were talking across the locker room, and I was like, man, if I could just get my name dropped in one song, I made it. And the first song, well, the first mainstream, not the first song, the first mainstream song that I got my name dropped in was Empire State of Mind. Yep. Check. And so, you couldn't tell me nothing. Still can't tell you nothing. Let's play it. If Jesus paying LeBron, I'm paying Dwayne Wade. All right. How are you feeling about this wine? Okay. Medium full, like, somewhat full body, but like minus. This is a good wine. So, this is a $20 wine that I've been trying to get to. Okay. Like, when am I going to be right? Let's go keep guessing the same one. I'm going to get one right. Okay. Yo, your poker face is amazing. This is called M. Sheeps Clothing. This is Washington State Cabernet, and this comes in at $18.99. Okay. You got it. So, this is the Daily Dose Washington State Cabernet. One of my favorites, right? Like, generally, I feel like this wine is not high in alcohol. It has some tannins to it, but it's not, like, mouth-blowing, like, blowing you up. It's not extra hot. You know, that wasn't a descriptor that we had. To me, this is, like, quintessential, everyday drinking, you know, Washington State Cabernet. All right. We have number five here. Ooh. Yeah? Yeah. It smells slightly dusty to me. Yeah. I mean, this is one of the ones where I'm like, if I smelled it, I'd be like, hold on. It smells like dirt. It just smells like dirt, like there's dirt in the air. This has got pretty decent acidity. As soon as it hit my, as soon as it hit my lips, I immediately went to, mm-hmm. It's good acid. Yeah. It's good acid. Yeah, no, it's good. Yeah, yeah. You know, your son, Zaire, just got drafted by the Salt Lake City— Stars, yeah. Yeah, the Stars. Did you give him any advice? Yeah, a lot. You did? Yeah, a lot. Like, people will say like, how does it feel to have Zaire following in your footsteps? Okay. And I say, Zaire's not following in my footsteps, Zaire's following in his dreams. Zaire has, he's wanted to play basketball since he's been able to walk. He's been playing basketball since he's been able to walk. Uh-huh. And so, he's not following in my footsteps, Zaire's following in Zaire's dreams. And so, me as a father who has been through the exact same journey of having coaches and having teammates and just the life of an athlete, I'm able to help, you know, him throughout this process. So, for me and for our family, the biggest thing for us is we're always trying to make sure that our kids get opportunities. My wife and I are first generation in our family to accomplish the things we've accomplished, but we don't want to be the last. And so, for us, I always say is, you know, throughout my life, it's been so many buildings and roadblocks and trees and all these things in a way. And I'm able to be able to go through that process before my son. And I'm able to move some of those things that's in his way. Correct. You know what I mean? And allow him to really see, you know, his dreams a little closer and a little clearer. Like, I grew up with an image. Like, Michael Jordan was an image for me in the world. Whether he knew it or not, like, I looked at this guy the way he dressed, the way he did media interviews, the way he played. He became a positive image to someone I can look at and be like, Oh, maybe I can do that. Maybe I can be like that. And so, it's a responsibility to be an image for, you know, little Dwayne. Correct. How hard was it to do this? How hard was it to open up and to share those private moments in your visual memoir? Well, it's very hard to allow someone in your private space. And I just remember being a kid and when, it was no social media, of course, but I remember getting the opportunity to see Michael Jordan's book called Rare Air. Yeah. And I remember for the first time I seen Michael Jordan toes. I was like, Oh, he got corns like me? This is amazing. And so, the main thing I wanted people to see when they flip through this book is the human. Yeah. You know, playing a game of basketball on TV, being great, you looked at this superman, this superhero, and we're all just human. And so, you see moments in there. You see a lot of human moments and it makes it, you know, to me it makes it real because, and I like to say is, we live in a world right now of highlights. Absolutely. We live in a world of highlights and that is not, that's not true. You know, it's not real. It's not. And so, for me, just to show those human moments and the un, you know, maybe get a little airbrush, but the unedited moments of life. No, no, but yeah, it shows your vulnerability that you are human and hopefully that makes it real for people. For sure. All right, so where are you at here? Where are you thinking? Well, price-wise, it's whatever's left. That's not how we intended this to go. That's not how we intended this to go. I'm definitely certain that this is the one that I didn't pick, which is next to the high end. So, you get this one right. All right, do you like this wine? Is it pleasurable? It's not my favorite. It's not your favorite? Something to drink. Mm-hmm. This is one of the wines that if I was at a restaurant and I drank it, it wasn't one of my favorites. I would put this on my, I put this in my notes on my phone and I'll order it again and I'll come back to it. That's it. Because at a different moment, I may have a different conversation. It may taste different. I may have a different, I may eat something different. yeah. I'm like, how is this my show? Like, you're dropping all the gems right now. Not me, but that's the real ----. The real ---- is like, hey, when you're on this journey of wine, it's not this quest to find the best thing that you want to drink the rest of your life. And maybe that's on the side notes, but the idea is like to understand it a little bit more. Right? So, the idea is that this wine wasn't your favorite, but that you would take the time to write it down and say, hey, I want to taste this again. And that's, I feel like, is the magic in wine. And this is Chianti Classico. You know, this is called Grand Selectione. This is from Talani, 2014. Also, that means the Sangiovese. Sangiovese is like this really kind of dusty, Chihuahua-driven, Earth-driven food wine. You know, it's like strawberries. It's like this beautiful thing. It's like, you know, it's what most of the world knows Italian wine culture as. And obviously, you got this one right. Two out of five? Oh, but you know, like, this is a journey. This is what this is all about. Yeah. I guess that's one of the cool things about this industry. You know, I can sit here as someone who has my own wine label, as someone who sits on the board of UC Davis and, you know, who's getting exposed to some of the best wines in the world. I don't know how I'm so lucky. And I can still get the price points wrong. But that's the best part about all of this. It's all humbling. Yes. Right? Like, and the thing when you strip everything away, it's a humbling experience. And like, you don't take this notion that I know everything. Right? You just keep pushing for it every single day. And I think that, I thank you for being here and putting yourself out and saying, hey, I want to be a part of this. And the biggest part about all of this, it's not about price point and whether you can figure out what the price point is. It's whether you like it or not. Yeah. That's a metaphor for life. Okay. All right, we're going to move on to the final round, the bonus wine. All right? Oh, we got a bonus wine. We got a bonus wine. I want you to tell me, what's your favorite? My favorite from tonight would probably be our third wine. Our third wine. So that's going to be the Mayo Camoisse, which is wine number three. So I've had five glasses, so I just want to let everybody know out there. I'm feeling good. That's the point. You're supposed to feel good. So we have the crew. Yeah, that's it. Claude Rougeau. This is Mayo Camoisse 2016. My team is going to go and tally up your points, see if you're golden cork material. But in the meantime, cheers, brother. Cheers, man. Thank you. Thank you, man. All right, so let's play a game. It's called Flash Your Favorites. I'll ask you your favorites, and you answer as fast as you can. Oof. I'm going to say it, and you just go. Okay. Like the first thing that comes to mind. Okay. Favorite holiday? Thanksgiving. Favorite movie? Coming to America. Favorite designer? Well, I'm going to go with the last. Gucci. All right, Gucci, Gucci. All right. Well, the last show I went to. Favorite musical artist? Jay-Z. Okay. Favorite tattoo artist? My tattoo artist, Cliff. Shout out to you, guy. All right, Cliff. I'm tatted, I'm tatted. All right, Cliff. Favorite team in the NBA? Utah Jazz. That was the quickest. Favorite interview you've done today? Favorite interview? This one. Thank you. All right. So, Dwayne, you got two out of five right. Sounds like me in school. You know, I was a C student, maybe C minus. If you got one more right, you would have been eligible to win our golden cork, but we don't give out any participation trophies here. It's all good. You're a winner in life. You understand this thing. Thank you for being on the show. Yeah. And remember, it's not about the price. It's about what you like. Thank you, man. Do the grapevine. Do the grapevine, baby. Appreciate it. Thank you, bro. When are you going to get to drink this kind of wine for free? I ain't getting no bill out of this thing. Awesome. Not that you know, we're going to bill you back. Yeah, this is cool, man. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you.