Jeff Morgan after his takedown of Naked Wine wrote this about the latest ventures of some well known celebrities in the drinks business. I can honestly say that even a celebrity endorsement let alone participation is for me a huge turn off, and apart from one or two Coppola wines, have never had a wine that was close to a value.
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I guess I’m somewhat used to the “celebrity brand” from all the makeup and perfume launches by (primarily) female celebs (plus the brand x influencer collaborations, ugh). Some are good, some are meh, many are crap and fail eventually. And actual involvement by the celeb is very YMMV
I got a Facebook ad a while back for that “Clean Wine” and hard eyerolled
Doesn’t surprise me that (primarily) male celebs get into booze branding. Interesting that the article skipped mentioning Clooney
Are the Rothschilds celebrities?
Saw this the other day:
19 Crimes Martha’s (Stewart) Chard.
The 19 Crimes Chardonnay is absolutely one the worst wines I’ve ever tasted.
(edited to correct “True Crimes” with “19 Crimes”)
“Snoop and Martha have a close friendship, and it was very helpful to have Snoop in our corner when we started negotiations with Martha,” a representative of Treasury Wine Estates (19 Crimes’ parent company) told Wine Spectator via email.
Well there you have it. A close friendship.
Celebrity wines generally aren’t targeted towards wine nerds. It’s marketing, just like putting a celebrity name on anything else.
It’s hard enough to sell wine and distinguish a brand. How is this any different?
Inglenook and Coppola was never about a celebrity owner, just a passionate man, and very successful IMO, probably the most successfull, right behind that is Miraval, Scaggs, Intercept, Wade, LVE, Doubleback, Seaver, and Pursued by Bear.
I guess it depends on how you define “celebrity.” Jeff Pruett, for example, is pretty well known in racing circles, and makes good wine. Is he a celebrity?
Mark i agree in general but there are exceptions as noted. For me Seaver made some excellent wines and as an older sports fan Tom Seaver was a celebrity
Also, I’d like to push back on this point in the linked post:
“So what’s the point? Well, some celebs might be opportunistic. But that’s no crime. It’s really the puerile consumer who creates a fertile environment for such silliness. Consumers flock to the stars; even when the stars have precious little to do with the product. To be honest, I don’t expect to see much change here; it’s human nature.
Nonetheless, we all have the capacity to drink and think “smarter.” Before we give our favorite entertainers a free pass to wine and spirits celebrity, we should hold them to the same professional standards we hold any legit winemaker or distiller.”
I personally think this is being unfair to the average wine consumer, who really doesn’t want to spend a lot or think much about their wine. This isn’t a criticism of that consumer - indeed, they have just as much right to pick out a wine with a celebrity name on it from the ocean of labels, as WB’ers have to never drink those wines. It’s all good.
Also, I personally think Miraval is pretty tasty.
I agree with Mark’s comment in the OP - an endorsement alone is a huge turn off. Involvement even more. Another $200 Napa Cab made by the same wine maker who produces a few dozen other wines? OK.
I don’t care what people do with their money, but I like wine. The fact that some basketball player tried a bottle one day and at that instant became “passionate” about it is completely meaningless to me. I don’t care about the private lives and loves of someone who throws big round balls into nets, or runs down field to kick or catch them or drives fast or pretends to be someone on camera. So they lend their names to various projects and eventually that fashion will fade and they’ll get involved with something else. Their endorsement on a product or a cause is irrelevant to me.
I don’t want to hear Lebron opine on social issues any more than I want to drink Drew Barrymore’s rosé, although if I had to choose, I’d pick the latter in a heartbeat.
That said, some people actually do make the jump and turn out decent wine. Philippe Cambie was a celebrity before he became a wine maker, and while I never liked his wines all that much, I could never doubt his commitment. Sam Neil did a decent Pinot Noir, although he’s sold his original vineyard. Coppola was already mentioned, as should be Fred MacMurray and Fess Parker. But Jay-Z? Kylie Minogue? Mick Fleetwood? Pink? Sting?
Pass. Not even curious.
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*Scott Pruett
He got his start with the help of fellow racer Randy Lewis (Lewis Cellars). There are quite a few celebrities who got into wine then took the next step with a winery (or just a vineyard). Many enjoy doing vineyard and/or winery work themselves. That’s a lot different than some cynical marketing arrangement or some delusional doofus who shows up a couple times a year (until even that gets old) to do a token gesture of work and think themselves a winemaker.
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Doubleback might have not been as successful if Brady didn’t take over as QB in New England.
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Honestly I’m amazed you found any value and or quality in any Coppola wines. Has not been my experience.
Other than that totally agree, celebrity endorsement = proceed with caution.
Tom
I will never forget the distributor saying how terrible the Coppola wines were at a charity event I was pouring at many years ago. Their upper end wines are solid but the base bottling wines are terrible.
x
Ive bought and enjoyed Doubleback, Seaver and Miraval none of which has a celebrity premium price. All are well made quality wines at fair prices. Had a 12 Seaver during the Super Bowl one week ago that was wonderful
Also had but did not buy Danica Patricks Napa Cabs which were very solid as well
Doubleback, better than Nickelback.
I don’t know Nickelback "Rockstar"life style could be fun!!! 
The Bon Jovi/father and son collaberation with , I think,Bertrand? ,“Diving into Hamptons Waters”, is a decent rose and not outrageously priced…haven’t followed it to see if they added any other bottlings to that line…To my taste, Miraval has been a bit inconsistent, over the several vintages I have tasted and perhaps a bit overpriced for what it is but not eggregiously so