Owning a Vineyard or Winery doesn’t necessarily make you wealthy and it is a very hard business to get into because of its instability. So many factors are involved in the making of the next great wine. Weather, region, grapes and varietals as well as percentages of blending and age old techniques can come into play when making a great wine.
Many try and just as many fail and it is kind of interesting to know that some of the wine you may be drinking may come from your favorite athlete or actor. Some of these actors and athletes may acquire a vineyard for personal use while others invest hoping their recognition may boost sales. I am not going to go against owning and it could be very lucrative. Sales of celebrity supermarket wines are actually up 19%.
Some of our most popular owners who actually found success is Francis Ford Coppola who owns the historic Napa Valley winery Inglenook which he renamed Niebaum-Coppola.
Rubicon is one of his better wines produced from his winery.
Dan Aykroyd owns his own winery in Ontario Canada and also produces some Sonoma county wines.
Antonio Banderas owns Anta Banderas In Ribera del Duero, Spain.
Even Lorraine Bracco from the Sopranos owns Bracco Wines in Tuscany, Italy.
Madonna, Dave Matthews, Arnold Palmer, Joe Montana and the list goes on.
Did you know that even Robert Parker who rates wines for the Wine Advocate co-owns a winery with his brother-in law in Oregon and delegates the rating of Oregon wines to his associates due to the conflict of interest.
It is very interesting to see who is involved, even Nancy Pelosi, former speaker of the house owns two vineyards. Below is a list of some more that I compiled but I actually think it is kind of interesting to see that maybe that next glass of wine you drink may actually have been from your favorite actor. As always enjoy good wine with good friends and good food. This is William Winehart wishing you well.
- Mario Andretti-Napa
- Mario Batali- La Mozza, Tuscany, Italy
- Drew Bledsoe- Double back wines, Walla Walla, Washington
- Mike Ditka- Mike Ditka Wines, Mendocino County, California
- Emilio Estevez- Casa Dumetz, Malibu California
- Wayne Gretzky- no99 Estates Winery, Niagara, Canada
- Lil Jon- Little Jonathan Winery, Central Coast California
- Modonna- Ciccone Vineyard, Leelanau, Michigan
- Dave Matthews- Blenheim Vineyards, Charlottesville, Virginia
- Vince Neil- Vince Neil Vineyards, Sonoma California
- Jason Priestly- Black hills Estate Winery, Okanagan, British Columbia
