Lately, it seems like every celebrity and their dog has been releasing a new wine or tequila brand, from Nick Jonas's Villa One Tequila and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Teremana Blanco Tequila to Martha Stewart's 19 Crimes Martha's Chard and Dwayne Wade's Wade Cellars. Sure, they all sound great — celebs are backing them. But when we're gifting a bottle, trying to find the perfect bottles to serve at a party or just want to enjoy ourselves on a Friday night, it's hard to know if celebrity wines are worth it.
Here to give us the lowdown on whether or not nine of the most alluring celebrity wines are worth the hype is Lauren Power, a seasoned wine expert who specializes in curating unique wine cases at her family's own Tre Amici Wines. The wine and spirit importing service works with unique, family-owned wineries and distilleries to create exclusive wine cases made for you, and delivered right to your doorstep.
Lauren Power, wine expert and curator at Tre Amici Wines
"Winemaking is, of course, a business venture that we have seen in North America become very lucrative for a lot of people in the past 50 years, especially in California and those regions," says Power. "So it makes sense that celebrities are putting their name in the hat to be a part of that. Alcohol is a very general product."
While colognes, perfumes, apparel and accessories can be divisive (let's not forget about Gwyneth Paltrow's controversial Goop lifestyle brand), almost everyone drinks or buys gifts for someone who does. And when covid 19 threw the world into uncertainty, alcohol sales were one of the few things that remained a constant.
There's a lot celebrities can gain by slapping their name on a bottle, and it's up to us not to get rooked. Power has a few tips to help prevent us from getting swindled. "It's very important, when you're looking at celebrity wines, to do your research on what their involvement is," she says. "In terms of the quality of the wines, what we want to actually look at is the winery that they've partnered with, if there is a specific winemaker involved and how much they're talking about the process of the winemaking versus the marketing."
Power encourages us to do our research when it comes to wine, but she also offers wine tasting experiences that are fun and educational. "Wine is such a confusing thing, especially for the millennial demographic. We haven't spent a ton of time walking through the liquor store or spending money on wine bottles," she says. "People in their 20s and 30s that have traditionally grown up drinking Smirnoff Ice and vodka wouldn't be well versed in winemaking."
Smirnoff Ice may have been the millennial drink of choice for a long time (too long). But it's not too late to start educating ourselves on the world of wine, starting with these celebrity wines. Power gives her expert opinion on which bottles are worth buying, and which to skip.
9 celebrity wines and whether they're worth the hype
1. 19 Crimes Snoop Dogg Cali Red
$19.95
"It's really hard to find any information about the actual wine. It's hard to find what grapes they're using, how the winemaking is taking place.
It does tell a very cool story — the 19 crimes story about how there were 19 crimes punishable by death in Australia. They have a series of different bottles in the 19 crimes lineup, and it highlights people who rebelled against those things, and 'changed the world.'
There's a feature on the bottle where you can scan it, and the bottle kind of talks to you. It uses this really cool AI feature. That makes it a cool experience — it tells a great story. The price point is also really good. And it definitely highlights all of those notes that we expect in a red wine. It has the dark fruit, it has some spice, it has a little bit of oak and it's really smooth. It's that classic red wine taste that we would expect from a red blend or red wine. But for me, it's a pass. I think we can find better quality wines in that price point."
2. Post Malone — Maison No. 9 Rosé
$31.85
"This one actually really surprised me. This is done in collaboration with a world-renowned winemaker. His name is Alexis Cornu, and he has spent tons of time in that specific region, making specifically rosé wines. It's coming from good vineyards — a co-op of different vineyards.
The taste of the wine is is actually really great, and it's exactly what we would expect from a French rosé. It's really light. It has those nice strawberry, watermelon-y, light fruit flavours and citrus in there as well. Nice acidity — so really great with food pairings, but also great to drink on its own. It's very drinkable.
And the bottle is beautiful. He has that cross on it with the flowers wrapped around it. That's one of his tattoos that they put on the bottle, which is very cool. And they named it number nine because that is Post Malone's favourite tarot card."
3. LVE John Legend Signature Series Cabernet Sauvignon
$34.95
"I thought [LVE John Legend Signature Series Cabernet Sauvignon] was very good. LVE stands for Legend Vineyard Exclusive. [John Legend] has actually come out with a few different wine labels, but this one is in partnership with J.C. Boisset, who is an award-winning winemaker in France and California.
The grapes come from the north coast of California from really good regions. So you have Rutherford, St. Helena and Yountville, which are very famous regions for grape growing. Then it spends about 18 months in French oak. So pretty good time in in oak barrels, which kind of dictates quality. Generally, the more time is spent in oak barrels, the better, for a wine of this stature and calibre.
You get those very classic notes of what we would expect from red wines. We have the dark fruit, some red fruit and then, due to the oak aging, we have some nice smoke and spice. In terms of quality, I think it's a really good wine, but I think we could find very similar quality wines at a better price point if we did our research."
4. Ernie Els Big Easy Red Blend
$21.95
"[Ernie Els is] not a typically famous guy. He's a professional golfer, from South Africa. His nickname is the Big Easy, because he's a really big guy, but has a very fluid golf swing.
He has a label of wines with a very famous South African winemaker. They actually opened the winery together. And this is the Big Easy, his entry level red blend wine — a blend of shiraz and cabernet sauvignon. It's another really full-bodied red wine with good structure, those red and dark fruit notes, a little bit of spice and richness — a very savoury wine.
A lot of people do wine from France and California, so I liked that this was from South Africa. It's definitely one of the up and coming wine regions — a place where we can get really good value wines. So at $21.95, I think this is probably the best value on the list for what you're getting."
5. The Tragically Hip Ahead By a Century Chardonnay
$21.95
"This one is a good wine. I want to include something local, so that's why I chose this one. It's an Ontario wine. When we're comparing Ontario wines to wine from California or Europe, we just don't have the growing season that those regions have, but when we are drinking wines from Niagara, a chardonnay is a really great grape to drink. Chardonnay, riesling, cabernet franc — those are grapes that grow really well in these colder climate wine regions.
This wine was made from Stoney Ridge Estate Winery, and it was created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of The Tragically Hip's classic albums, called Trouble at the Henhouse. This is a nice in-between chardonnay. In Europe, we generally see chardonnays that are done unoaked, and in California, we see very oaked chardonnays. This is a really unique grape because it grows pretty much everywhere, but it's dealt with very differently.
When it comes to the unoaked side of things, we get more of those fruit and minerality flavours, and when we put the wine in oak, we get a little bit of spice, vanilla and some buttery and creamy textures and flavours. This is lightly aged in oak, so you get the best of both worlds. This is also a nice gift if you want to bring a white wine, because it's local and it has a nice story behind it."
6. Miraval Rosé by Brad Pitt
$27.95
"This, I'm a big fan of. He went into this with his ex-wife, but he's been more a part of it in the past little while. They've made some sparkling wines, and they've really expanded their footprint in terms of the winemaking that they're doing. They paired up with the Perrin family, which is a fifth generation family of winemakers — so we have a good wine partner there.
He was the first real celebrity to get into it, so I do have to give him kudos for that. And he makes the point of saying, 'this is something that I'm in for the long term and it's not just a trend for me,' and he's proven true to that. So again, I've got to give him credit.
It's a very good wine. Its classic French style is similar to the Post Malone [Maison No. 9 Rosé]. I think this one is a little bit more elegant than the Post Malone [Maison No. 9 Rosé]. It's more on the expensive side, but definitely a good one. Giving this one a thumbs up, for sure."
7. Z. Alexander Brown Uncaged Cabernet Sauvignon
$24.95
"This one, again, paired up with a winemaker. This is one that's not super marketed, but I thought this was a good wine. It's very much that classic style. They did a good job of making this a good, drinkable wine that takes the classic notes of cabernet sauvignon. It's a very crowd-pleasing wine. I think anybody who drank this would be happy with it. And I think the price point is very approachable. I like the label as well. For $24, this is a pretty good wine."
8. Invivo X, by Sarah Jessica Parker Sauvignon Blanc
$22.95
"This is a classic, New Zealand wine. Sauvignon blanc is known for being from Marlborough, New Zealand, which is where this wine is made. So I definitely have to give her credit for that. She went to the proper region. All of that part of it, I think was done well. This is a very typical sauvignon blanc — it does a great job of highlighting those really acidic and fruity notes. You get a little bit of tropical fruit, like passion fruit and grapefruit.
It's a pretty good price at $22.95 ... When you're comparing it to Kim Crawford — which is that standard, very classic Marlborough, New Zealand sauvignon blanc — for the extra few few dollars, if you want to try something new, this is a really great one."
9. Kaitlyn Bristowe — Spade & Sparrows Pinot Noir
$22.95
"[Kaitlyn Bristow] does a lineup of different wines from California. What I really like about her line is the club she has around it. You can be part of her wine club, and she hosts virtual events. She really does a good job of cultivating that community behind her brand. It's not like she just puts it somewhere — she's very connected to it. She is constantly talking about it. What I find probably the most unique out of all of these wines is that wine club factor behind it. And how she is constantly in communication with her community and having them experience the wine, because for me that's what wine is all about — it's enjoying it and sharing it with with friends and family.
The pinot noir does a good job of being a California pinot noir. It's not too oaky or syrupy. Some of the reds from from California can be very sweet. This one's a little bit on the lighter side. You get really nice strawberries, raspberries and a little bit of spice. It's very drinkable and enjoyable. For who she is marketing to, she does a good job of making the wine and making it very approachable and enjoyable for them."
