Celebrity Wine

Once reserved for people skilled in winemaking and for royalty, ownership of wineries, estates, domaines, and pretty much everything related to a wine brand has become a staple for celebrities as well. With the significant growth of the industry, investment in wineries has become a way for them to grow their wealth whether their level of participation in the project is particularly active or simply lending their name as an influencer. 

Influencer you ask. Well. depending on your personal taste in celebrities, if you are not a wine afficionado, are you more likely to buy a wine associated with Angelina Jolie or with Thomas Rivers Brown? Carmelo Anthony or Andrew Ericson?

Another name that has come to the wine forefront recently is Kylie Minogue. Apparently, she is an Australian-born singer and actress. Now, she is in the wine business. And, in the last year, her wines have sold about 100,000 cases (that's more than 1 million bottles) and data indicate that more of them than not have been sold to people who other than drinking Kylie's wines have never had wine. It's their new drink of choice, not because they can tell a good wine from a bad wine, but because Kylie Minogue with her 2 million plus Instagram followers can get lots of people to buy her wine.

So, is this stuff worth drinking? Honestly, I don't know. In most celebrity wine projects, although they do vary, the role of the celebrity is to invest money, lend his or her name to it, perhaps give some opinions to the winemaker that the winemaker might choose to consider or ignore, and to post about it all over social media.

For those who are wondering, Thomas Rivers Brown and Andrew Ericson are two of the finest winemakers currently practicing their craft in the US. Their wines command top dollar and top ratings. Each has produced scores of wines with ratings at or near 100 points from virtually all the major critics. And, when either launches a new project, afficionados and collectors race to get on the allocation lists. 

But, if you are not among the wine cognoscenti and you saw Brad Pitt plugging Chateau Miraval, would you be more inclined to buy one of their wines or something from Rivers-Marie (Thomas Rivers Brown's most recent project with his wife) or from Seven Apart (Andrew Ericson's latest)? While the former has one of the most recognizable faces and names in the world, I can tell you that I wouldn't recognize either of the other two if I sat next to them on a plane.

Based on my research which includes very little tasting, here is some of the skinny on some of these celebrity wines.  Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie remain partners in Chateau Miraval. And, Brad Pitt is allegedly very involved in the wine decisions. One of the keys, however, is that Chateau Miraval has another partner -- the Perrin family -- that has been involved in winemaking for centuries. Serious drinkers of Rhone wines will immediately recognize the name as synonymous with Chateau Beaucastel. The wines of Chateau Miraval are nearly unanimously regarded as excellent, perhaps the best in which any celebrities are taking an active role. The Fleur de Miraval Rose Champagne should be at its price. We could get our hands on a bottle for roughly $400.

Kylie Minogue's wines are not regarded quite as highly, but critics have labeled them as great value wines. Research tells me that in her own personal exploration of wines, Minogue fell in love with Rose. She wanted to understand how it is made and as time goes by, she is getting very involved in the production. The good news is that her wines tend to retail for less than $20 per bottle.

In any event, people are drawn to celebrities. When they see a recognizable name, they are frankly more likely to buy. There are reasons that corporations pay huge sums of money to attach celebrity's names to their products. And, in today's world of being all about influencers, the bigger the name, the more the product tends to sell. 

The good news is that most celebrities are loathe to attach their names to a truly inferior product. So, while you and I are probably paying more for the mere fact that there is celebrity attachment, at least in the wine world, it seems that having that celebrity attached is nearly a guarantee that the wine is, in fact, drinkable, and not swill.

Me? I'd rather pay for the name of the winemaker. But, if you are a cricket fanatic, you might be much happier with one of the wines from the Margaret River winery in which Sir Ian Botham is a partner. 

It's your money ... or mine. We may each buy as we please.