In a scene that could have well passed for an episode of HBO’s Insecure, on Wednesday night in a moody Manhattan lounge, the actress Issa Rae debuted her latest project: Viarae, a new line of Prosecco in partnership with E. & J. Gallo Winery.
The effervescent Italian sparkler “represents some of my best memories,” Rae emotionally told the well-heeled crowd. “It was first introduced to me at a moment when I didn’t know that everything was going to change for me.”
In the early days of Insecure, Rae tells Wine Enthusiast, she’d met up for sushi with Melina Matsoukas, who’d directed the show’s pilot. At the time, Rae was just at the beginning of her meteoric rise to fame, and the restaurant seemed electrifying and extravagant. Still, it was her companion’s drink order that especially caught her attention. Ahead of the meal, Matsoukas gamely ordered a glass of Prosecco.
“I was like, ‘What’s that?’” Rae recalls. “She said, ‘You’ll see.’” So began Rae’s love affair with the sparkling wine. It became her signature drink in short order, so much that Insecure’s writers worked it into the show, making it protagonist Issa Dee’s go-to order—and further blurring the line between Issa the actress and Issa the character.
“The bubbles are invigorating,” Rae says of her attraction to Prosecco. “There’s just something about the sparkling nature that feels festive.” On top of that, to her Prosecco feels more approachable and less stuffy than Champagne. Offscreen, so many friends and fans asked
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
