Archive for the 'Celebrity wine' Category

The box wine Mark Cuban spent $1 million on

box_wine_mark_cubanBox wine made an appearance on ABC’s Shark Tank last Friday. And like blood in the water, this startup had the sharks in a feeding frenzy with all five sharks bidding (or trying to bid).

Before wine enthusiasts get too excited, it’s worth noting that the beverage is more wine-arita than winery. Let’s break it down. Called Beatbox wines, it comes in a box styled as a beatbox. Nice! Two 5-liter boxes sell on their site for $64.99, which comes out to the equivalent of about $5 a bottle. So they’ve got the value pricing covered. And now, the content: this “wine-based” beverage with 11.1% alcohol comes in several flavors including Blue Razzberry Lemonade and Cranberry Limeade. Oh, and these serving instrux: “Try BeatBox on its own, with a mixer, in a cocktail, or as frozen BeatBoxicles!”

Billionaire Mark Cuban put it best on the show: “You’re not selling wine. You’re selling fun.”

Kevin O’Leary tasted it and proclaimed, “This tastes like S**t!” And then he bid on a slice of the company.

But it was Cuban who came out ahead, giving the Austin-based entrepreneurs five times the amount of money they were seeking for a third of the company’s equity–at a 50% higher valuation than they were seeking.

Given the myriad laws governing wine retail and distributing, here’s hoping that BeatBox doesn’t give Mark Cuban a $1 million hangover.

See the whole episode on Hulu Plus or read a blow-by-blow over on BI.

Stoudemire dunks himself in a red wine bath

amare_wine_bathAmar’e Stoudemire, the Knicks’ oft-injured forward who makes $18 million this season, is into wine. Like really INTO wine: he posted a picture of himself on Instagram taking a red wine bath as part of his recovery.

The 31-year-old says he has been doing the “mostly wine” baths for about six months. He extolled the virtues of them to ESPN.

“The red wine bath is very important to me because it allows me to create more circulation in my red blood cells. Plus, it’s very hot, so it’s like a hot tub. But it’s also the red wine … just kind of soothes the body.”

He played in three games for the Knicks over a four-day period, followed by a three-hour practice with the team. Then he dunked–in the red wine bath. “After doing that recovery day, my legs felt rejuvenated. I felt great, so I’m going to continue to do that for sure.”

Will this be the next red wine trend? (Can’t wait for the first celebrity wine “so good you can bathe in it!”) While many of the red wine & health crowd have focused on actually consuming the natural resveratrol, apparently, this wine is for the outside only: when ESPN asked him if the wine was any good, he replied “I hope so. I don’t know. I haven’t tasted it.”

The Brangelina rosé: did the trade misjudge?

brangelina roseCelebrity wines have proliferated in recent years. In fact, so has celebrity everything from books to cookware. We are in the era of the brand extension!

So it was no surprise to see headlines this spring that the revamped Chateau Miraval rosé, from the provencal estate of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, had “sold out to the trade in five hours.” The subtext was that the Brangelina rosé was going to be hot and you would be lucky to get some.

Yet in the past couple of weeks, I’ve seen the wine on store shelves, wine.com just pushed it today in an email, and one store even had it on closeout. What gives? Dry rosé is such a hot category, Brangelina’s star power is en fuego, the Perrin family of Beaucastel is involved in the production, and the $25 wine has distinctive packaging so it really seems logical that wine would have told out quickly. But it hasn’t “Gone in 60 Seconds.” Watch for their names to appear in bigger font for the 2013 vintage.

Jennifer Aniston’s $3 million wine cellar — and margarita fountain

jennifer_anistion_wine

Media outlets are reporting that Jennifer Aniston has installed a 1,600-square foot wine cellar in her Bel Air home for $3.2 million. She and her fiance Justin Theroux apparently delayed their wedding to complete a total of $12 million of renovations on the home that she purchased two years ago for $21 million. Oh, the house has a small vineyard on the 3.5 acres.

The above image from her previous home would now be the emergency wine storage area.

But, don’t worry, even though Aniston is clearly into wine, she might just get a little bit bored of it sometimes. Since she “loves Mexican food” they’ve installed a “margarita fountain,” which is described as a “special machine for mixing drinks that looks like a water feature.” Come on, where’s the Petrus fountain??

One wine that likely won’t be in the spacious cellar: the Brangelina rosé.

“Inside Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux’s $22 million Bel Air mansion” Adelaidenow.com.au

Drew Barrymore: the ladiez like ice in their wine

Drew Barrymore, wine curator, comments on her wine label to KSBW:

“I love pinot grigio. I’ve been a pinot grigio drinker most of my life–after 21, of course.”

“It has beautiful notes and it is lacking in acidity but full of fruit.”

“Women love rosé and pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc. And we like to put ice in it.”

Discuss! Here’s a reaction from Twitter to kick things off: “she threw all the ladiezzz tasting wine back by about 20 years.”


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