Vineyards - Celebrity Involvement
An example of this is retired American football player Joe Montana who teamed up with long time Beringer winemaker Ed Sbragia to make their joint venture wine Montagia. While Sbragia oversees most the winemaking tasks, Montana is involved in deciding on the overall "vision" of the wine and participates in tasting and blending events. To a similar extent, the celebrity may own their own "wine brand" which is produced with their collaborating winery instead of owning a physical winery or wine estate itself. An example of this is the brand Mike Ditka Wines owned by former American football coach Mike Ditka. Some, such as French actor Gerard Depardieu will be very active in both the production and business dealings of the winery.
A celebrity may only have "legacy" attachments to the wines that bear their name. One example is the Gallo brand MacMurray Ranch which uses some grapes that are grown on a California ranch that was once owned by the American actor Fred MacMurray. After MacMurray died, his family sold most of the land to the Gallo family and has little connection to the wine brand. Another "legacy" celebrity who was more intimately connected with the winery that now carries his name was the American actor Raymond Burr. Burr bought the ranch with his domestic partner and had planted grapevines for wine production before he died in 1993. His partner, Robert Benevides, renamed the estate after Burr and continued making wines featuring his name.
Some celebrities will lend their names to a winery for a special "one time" wine production. Some examples are,
Mexican-American musician Carlos Santana who partnered with the Champagne house G.H. Mumm to create a sparkling wine in 2005 titled Santana DVX.
American musician Bob Dylan participated in a similar arrangement with the Italian winery Fattoria Le Terrazze. Dylan gave permission for the winery to use his name, likeness and album art to create a wine that pays tribute to his 1974 album Planet Waves.
In 2007, American entrepreneur Martha Stewart announced collaboration with the American winery Gallo to create value marketed wines to be sold at K-mart, which also features her Martha Stewart Living line of housewares.
And in 2009, British chef Gordon Ramsay allowed a Bordeaux winery to use his name, without royalties, to celebrate and promote the release of their 10th vintage.
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