Let’s be honest: We wine industry pros often turn up our noses when we hear that yet another celebrity has added the role of winemaker to their resume. But are we being too hasty in our judgment? Sometimes. There’s no denying that some actors, athletes, and musicians have leveraged their status to shill subpar wines to devoted fans who will buy almost anything their objects of affection endorse. But a select group of famous faces have smartly aligned themselves with respected winemakers to build their brands, and you can taste the difference.
“I have no problem with drinking wines made by celebrities as long as I am well informed about the grape sources and the individuals behind the winemaking process,” says Joyce Lin, a New York City–based sommelier and founder of pairing-focused website SIP WITH JOYCE. “Take Miraval Rosé, for instance—a superb-quality, delightful Provençal rosé co-produced by Brad Pitt [and] Famille Perrin, a prominent fifth-generation wine producer [whose] legacy dates back to the early 1900s.”
Joyce Lin is the New York City–based founder of pairing-focused website SIP WITH JOYCE.
Championship-winning point guard Dwyane Wade may have retired from the NBA, but his Wade Cellars label has dunked on naysayers who doubted his potential for success in the wine world. A longtime lover of wines from Napa Valley, Wade partnered with his friend Jayson Pahlmeyer, an acclaimed producer, to launch the brand—of which Femi Oyediran, sommelier and co-owner of Graft Wine Shop in Charleston, South Carolina, says, “We are big fans. They’ve exceeded expectations in engaging the
This Article was originally published on The SOMM Journal
