If it seems like the newest wine brands are from familiar faces, it’s because they are. In lieu of the wines from the 10th generation of a French family, more and more new brands are coming from the silver screen. Yes – celebs are in it for world domination as they step into the wine world too.
Cameron Diaz
The Wine: Avaline
If you’re not on the organic wine train, you should get on board. That is to say, at least according to Cameron Diaz, you don’t want to know what is in your non-organic wine. And if a celebrity wine brand should be anything, it is good for you. After she and her co-founder, Who What Wear founder, Katherine Powers started learning about how much better organic food is for you, they started applying the same logic to wine. But despite how much better it is for you, it’s often difficult to find organic wine outside of specialty stores. Enter, Avaline.
Consumers don’t know this, but there can be up to 70 additives in wine legal in the US. Avaline has none of them and is certified vegan. The wine also tastes delicious and distinct between her different wines. The red is said to be subtle and rich with notes of cherry and spice. The white is crisp and fresh with brighter notes of citrus.
John Legend
The Wine: LVE (Legend Vineyard Exclusive)
John Legend can do anything, and that includes producing high-quality, delicious wine. LVE encapsulates the love affair that has become of his zest for wine, music, and his family. He started LVE because he wanted to have wine that he could wholeheartedly give to his guests both as a gift and on the table. As a celebrity wine brand, LVE also gets celebrity approval.
Like his music, his blends bring people together. His red, rosé, and whites all come from Napa grapes and have been expertly created by Raymond Vineyards, a family-owned vineyard in the region. Each satisfies a different mood, with the medium-bodied, spiced red being a highly drinkable date-worthy bottle.
The Celebrity: Carmelo Anthony
The Wine: VII(N) The Seventh Estate
Wine and the NBA go together like beer and baseball. That is to say, a few notable NBA players have made it their mission to challenge the notion that sports aren’t the right context for wine. However, few have a love for wine quite like Carmelo Anthony, whose new celebrity wine brand claps back at all of the teammates who made fun of him. VII(N) Seventh Estate is a celebrity-owned wine label that taps an unexpected audience.
The label is an ode to his favorite wine region, Southern Rhone, and his admiration for François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture, a leader in the Haitian fight for independence. The wine is a full-bodied red with notes of cherries, peppercorns, sage, and other subtle flavors.
Dwayne Wade
The Wine: Wade Cellars
Carmelo’s wine is hot and fresh, but before he entered the wine world, Dwayne Wade was already making strides as an NBA sommelier — or something like that. Wade Cellars, founded in 2014, has an award-winning collection of wines made by a legendary winemaker in California. Growing up, Dwayne didn’t have access to wine and didn’t really have a taste for alcohol. But like Carmelo, he was initiated in by his teammates, and after he retired, became dedicated to creating wine for everyone.
His cabs, sauv, rosé, and chenin blanc are well-priced and versatile wines that don’t miss. After traveling the world to taste wine, Dwayne found his love in Napa, where he says a cabernet is never more consistent. A few of his wines are more affordable takes on similar bold and bodied blends from the same regions.
