Is celebrity wine any good? From Leonardo DiCaprio’s Champagne Telmont to Jay-Z’s Armand de Brignac, A-listers everywhere are bringing their bottles to the table – here’s the experts’ verdict

Oct 27 , 2023

Leonardo DiCaprio is a high-profile investor in Telmont champagne. Photos: Handout

George Clooney, Sarah Jessica Parker, Idris Elba, Cameron Diaz, Cara Delevingne, Francis Ford Coppola, Snoop Dogg, Sting, Jon Bon Jovi and John Legend are just a few big names that have stamped their names on bottles

Style asked industry experts – Porte Noire’s David Farber, Benchmark’s Paul Schaafsma, Guy Heywood of The Celebrity Drinks Collection and Barbara Drew of Berry Bros. & Rudd – for a professional opinion

“Having a celebrity name attached definitely has its benefits, but it’s a double-edged sword – for the brands and for sommeliers,” admits David Farber, ex-banker and co-founder of Porte Noire wines. “Of course celebrity gets people talking about what you’re doing, but there can also be negative connotations in celebrity when it’s attached to a product. It puts the product under the microscope.”

Farber has pondered this question a lot, because his business partner is the actor Idris Elba. The pair founded the brand in 2020. “He asked me a lot of questions about the economics of champagne as a business, but it was more a company born of time spent around a table with a lot of nice bottles,” laughs Farber.

Porte Noire was co-founded by actor Iris Elba

“I think people know it’s not Idris out there picking the grapes and pressing the wine. All the same he’s very conscious that if he puts his name to something, he doesn’t want it to be considered some kind of joke, or just be another lifestyle venture.”

Elba is certainly not alone. Recent years have seen many celebrities launch their own wines – not to mention spirits and beers – such that “celebrity wine” has become a market sector all of its own, especially in the US – even if not all have been successful. Actors George Clooney, Diane Keaton, Kurt Russell and Sam Neill, model Cara Delevingne, film director Francis Ford Coppola, cricketer Ian Botham, rapper Snoop Dogg, musicians Jon Bon Jovi and John Legend, fashion designer Roberto Cavalli … the list of famous faces that have bought estates or teamed up winemakers goes on and on.

Sarah Jessica Parker is the founder of wine Invivo X, SJP

They all face the challenge of wine buff snobbery – even if many of their wines have been highly rated. Sarah Jessica Parker’s Invivo X, SJP range of wines, for example, has been awarded more than 60 ratings of above 90 points since its launch in 2019, while in 2021 Jay-Z sold a 50 per cent stake in his Armand de Brignac to Moet Hennessy. Porte Noire haven’t proved immune. “As much as I hate celebrity wines, I couldn’t help but finish the bottle,” Farber quotes one reviewer concluding.

Barbara Drew, master of wine at brokers Berry Bros. & Rudd, says it’s easy to see why celebrities might want to get involved, even without the prestige still attached to wine, or the potential for profit. “The fact is that the wine world is fascinating, and great fun to delve into, so it’s no surprise at all that celebrities are everywhere in the world of wine,” she says.

Della Vite was founded by model Cara Delevingne

But is celebrity involvement any good for the wine business at large? Guy Heywood, founder of specialist online retailer The Celebrity Drinks Collection, argues yes, and not just because celebrities have the means to pour an often make-or-break investment into small producers. Wine-making, after all, is a process that can take years before any return is seen.