Gag Me With the Celebrity Rosé

Famous people have been in the alcohol business for awhile. Remember when George Clooney and friends sold their Casamigos Tequila brand for one billion dollars? Sonoma County has the Francis Ford Coppola Winery and it is a real winery unlike many celebrity wine labels. Mario Andretti has his namesake winery in Napa. Sometimes the rich and famous just put money behind a winery, sometimes they find winemakers to make wine for them, or their involvement can be somewhere in between. But let's get one thing straight, they are not winemakers.

Bradgelina rosé

Many famous people have put their name behind wine brands. Some of the better known are Drew Barrymore, Jeff Gordon, Madonna, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and, of course, our president. Some produce good wines, many not so good.

I recall a video where Drew Barrymore mentions peeling the grapes. Oh dear.

Now we are in the celebrity rosé phase. Drew, Brad and Angelina, and many more are selling pink wines. The latest is Cameron Diaz and a fashion company CEO in on a new label, Avaline, selling vegan friendly wines from organic grapes. And that's all fine, but their marketing folks are calling it clean wine -- meaning everybody else makes dirty wine?

I don't know why the world needs more mediocre rosé, but here we are. Okay, some have gotten decent reviews (for rosé). Yes, I'm not a big fan of most pink wine or celebrity brand endorsements.

You can see a full list of celebrity-owned wineries on Wikipedia.

You can read a critical review of Avaline's clean wine claims from a SF Chronicle wine writer.