Celebrity Wines: Good, Bad or Just Famous? (Blind Test)

Hi everybody! This is Agnes from No Sediment and today I am going to blind taste celebrity wines without knowing either the wine or celebrity behind it. I have been thinking about celebrity wine tasting video for a while now and naturally being the oddball that I am I wanted to look beyond the names of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Coming from an ice hockey loving country I went straight to Wayne Gretzky. But the moment I mentioned that to my friend from Canada she shushed me and told me to forget about it because apparently the wine is really really not that good. That of course confused me because I believe that in this celebrity shaped world the most important thing is your name. It would only make sense to link it with high quality products. Products that you believe in and share similar values with. But then again maybe I am incredibly naive and perhaps the payment for using your name is that much more sweeter. The names of these celebrities and their work in other fields create positive associations and for us they seem familiar and safe. We feel immediately connected. There's a sense of comfort and familiarity. The reality is that majority of these celebrity wines have almost zero involvement from the actual celebrity in the wine production style let alone viticulture. In fact large supermarket chains often have more control over their own private label wines than celebrities like Kylie Minogue do over the production of their rosé. So how does celebrity name end up on the label? Let's discuss a few popular ones. One common option is simple licensing. Celebrity allows their name to be used mainly for marketing purposes. That does not automatically mean that wine is bad. However in many cases these labels rely more on name recognition than on what's actually in the bottle. Another option is joint venture projects where celebrities collaborate with the winery. They might be involved in creation of specific labels, share ideas and advice and maybe even attend a tasting. Then there are projects where celebrities actually own vineyards or even entire winery facilities. Think of Miraval before it became involved in all the scandalous legal issues or Sting's Il Pallagio or Liquel de la Coste owned by John Malkovich. They might not be deeply involved in viticulture and winemaking decisions but they hire professionals they trust. This kind of concept suggests more passion and dedication from their side. And I can speak highly of John Malkovich as he was able to comfortably answer even a fairly provocative question from my side about why he chose to blend certain grape varieties. Kudos to him. In the end I decided to ask my cameraman buying few celebrity wines for me to taste blind. And this time the interesting part is that I will not know the celebrity behind each wine until we reveal them at the end. Like I said before all of these wines were purchased by my cameraman so I don't know the celebrity, I don't know where they're from. The only thing I know is that they're all red. Unfortunately I would have loved to have some whites or roses or sparkling wines in the list. Anyway let's start with wine number one. Last time I was told that you want to see the color so you see it is or at least it seems to be not the deepest colored or the inkiest grape variety behind this wine. There is some earthiness and some sweaty animal-like leather you know type of aromas on the nose in this wine. Sometimes these descriptors can indicate bread. I don't think this is particularly bready wine it's just let's call it earthy in its character. Maybe when you converse with this wine long enough somewhere behind all those earthy you know leather-like aromas you start to find some strawberries and raspberries. They're really not fresh or crunchy they're slightly oxidized and crushed. Anyway let's try the wine. All right so this wine is really light and juicy. It has this immediate appeal so it does not have elevated tannins. Tannins are actually rather towards the lower side, they're playful, they add a bit of character to the wine but they're not the prominent feature. The acidity at first I thought the acidity was like mediumish around on the palate but on the aftertaste it is actually like that fresh cherry driven acidity that I feel the most. So maybe it is slightly elevated and it adds a bit of you know freshness to the wine. I was somehow expecting something more but overall this wine falls in the category that it is you know this really simple and easy to enjoy style of wine without you know without adding this deeper or greater complexity or depth to this wine. There is nothing that peeks out of this wine. It is overall balanced wine but I would also call it very humble wine. With the second sip maybe it slightly grows on you and the aroma did show a more fruit now but I will give this wine 89 points. Let's reveal it. Two paddocks, Pinot Noir from central Otago, wine from New Zealand. So we are in the winemaking region that is most southern, one of the most southern winemaking regions in the world and the celebrity behind the wine is Sam Neill. So I guess I know him only from Jurassic Park. Alan was it? And it says it's also organically certified. There's nothing much I know about this wine. I did not know that Sam Neill made wine. No I know. Let's move to wine number two. It has slightly deeper color but it is still not that intense, not that inky. Maybe just slightly more than the wine number one. And the nose is quite interesting. It is not that bright and intense but you do feel strawberries, raspberries, you know these really fresh red berries but you also have some cassis to it, something blue and blackberry alike. Yes I don't think that this wine is offering something much more to talk about so maybe let's taste it. Alright on the palate this wine has higher acidity. The acidity is really refreshing and crunchy fruit shaped and driven. You also have maybe a bit firmer tonic texture so you have a bit of grip in that character. It is also filled with you know some of these brighter fruit flavors. There's something on the nose that I am not particularly excited about. It almost seems altered. I don't know like you have on the palate that really bright refreshing crunchy fruit character but the nose is not translating it. It almost seems like something is covering it up. But then again when I sip this wine it is not the most complex wine or rich or concentrated wine but it gives this really immediate pleasure and appeal. I feel like I want to give it a very similar score to the wine number one. You know 89 I think is really fair. You know maybe 88. It just I want to feel the same crunchy fruit flavors on the nose here as well. So 89 points it has. Let's reveal it. Message in the bottle Il Pallagio, the winery we mentioned in the introduction. So cool 2022 vintage Toscana Rosso. I'm guessing that the crunchy fruit was coming from San Giovese. A great variety I really really love. Did I mention that this wine is owned by Sting? So I do love Sting and his music and I'm guess Trudy as well is here mentioned on the on the label. I wonder if this wine has some additions of other grape varieties to it or has it also been aged in you know a new oak. That would be very interesting because that would maybe explain the nose of this wine but I thought that the brightness and the energy on the palate was quite lovely. Let's move to wine number three. All right with wine number three we are in much deeper more intense and it seems more concentrated world wine world and so the nose here is really intense but the very first thing that I felt was chocolate and these like really ripe plums and blueberries all dipped you know in that sweet bitter chocolate. There's some toastiness to it some coffee bean element a lots and lots of vanilla. This wine I just feel so uncomfortable because I don't know what kind of celebrities are behind these wines you know like all of them like both of these people I do respect dearly and I don't want to say anything bad about them but I also want to be honest and with this specific wine how do I put it with this specific wine it just seems created made wine if that makes sense you know like I understand why people would like and enjoy these kind of rich chocolatey deep ripe fruit flavors. Let's taste this one. I think while ago in one of my videos I was talking about acidity. I was talking about that maybe some producers are now so focused on acidity that they harvest their grapes so early that they sacrifice the flavors sometimes not necessarily always and here I think that the opposite might be true. I feel like I want to have some acidity. I'm not a girly who you know enjoys these super acidic you know very bone dry and kind of austere type of wines that's not my style. I usually like you know flavorsome wines but this one when you smell it you feel all these ultra ripe fruit flavors these chocolatey flavors and you feel the very same thing on the palate. I am not the greatest fan of this wine. I understand where the appeal could be for this wine I think overall this wine lacks greater balance lacks greater depth you know and and and a nerviness to it kind of want to have something on the palate that we could you know pay attention to you know brighter fruit brighter acidity maybe firmer tannin texture because everything here seems to be toned down you know it almost seems like let's play it so safe so that everyone likes it and at the end maybe you know no one likes it. I always say this whatever works for everybody doesn't work for anything and I think that this is it. I think that this wine has tried too hard. I'm really sorry I will give this one 88 points. Let's move to my number four ah no I have to reveal it. I almost don't want to see. Pursued by Bear 2021 vintage Kyle MacLachlan. How do you pronounce it? Oh yeah Twin Peaks Blue Velvet. I like him a lot. I really do and I think he's an amazing actor. By the way he's also been in the original Dune if you didn't know. Nobody's perfect. Isn't that the truth? All right. We cannot do this anymore because I feel like I am on the display. I respect Kyle MacLachlan dearly and I would have never wanted to disappoint him. I'm sorry. Let's move to wine number four. Now this is deeply inky colored red wine. I'm also I'm almost afraid to try it because I know my lips will be black and my teeth will be blue. I was so much into my thoughts that in my mind that I smelled the wine tasted the wine and I forgot that I was on the camera rolling and I forgot to talk about the wine. Anyway let's start with palate because when I tasted it it kind of woke me up a little bit. Maybe on the nose this wine was similarly rich and intense and concentrated and it had that warm climate you know ripeness to it. Almost chocolatey flavors as well but definitely not as in the wine number three. There's some vanilla as well you know some toastiness that sweet nutty character to it but on the palate the reason why it woke me up it had really firm tannin texture. I will not say that these tannins are really well managed and particularly soft and velvety but there is grip to them almost like something that gives you a character and this wine wine number four with that tannin texture it gives a bit of that I got an opinion you know kind of attitude which I like in this wine and also that nose we do have that riper fruit character but it is it does not seem exaggerated it just seems you know telling the story that I'm coming from a warm climate. I hope it does come from a warm climate but if it does not then of course it's a different story but you do feel that slight earthiness as well here so there is some complexity translated in the wine here let's taste it again the acidity is elevated and it adds a bit of you know freshness to this wine because it is fuller bodied wine it is this really concentrated and dense type of wine so you really want to have this acidity that freshness that liveliness to it and and it does deliver here in this one so thank you very much we are finishing at much higher note and I will give this wine 91 point let's reveal it what's that Ernie Else signature what's this Ernie Else is the is the celebrity that's a celebrity that I don't know it's a 2018 vintage let's see where it's from ah finally so Ernie Else celebrity that I am not familiar with and it's from Stellenbosch 14.5% alcohol it says it's Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Tiverdon Malbec and Cabernet Franc so that explains the really deeply colored wine and I'm happy because that tannin texture it did reflect the Cabernet Sauvignon or the Cabernet Sauvignon you know family tree and that acidity did reflect the Cabernet Sauvignon family tree so that's nice and Stellenbosch it's of course a relatively warmer climate and it is known for its Bordeaux grape varieties so this wine actually spoke with me the most from all of these four wines and it received the highest score from all of these wines which was 91 and he does just that Ernie Else in his third start on the PGA tour champions gets his first victory he's your 2020 whole classic winner I will be completely honest with you guys I was somehow expecting higher quality from these wines and by the way by the way I always wanted to wines from Pink and they're not here so it's not available in Europe so Pink if by any chance you hear us or see us please if you have some kind of influence over where your wines are sold maybe you can you know manage something that these wines are also available in Europe I would love to try them as well anyhow guys thank you very much for watching this video and watching me struggle through all of this I was feeling really uncomfortable but let me know in the comment section below what do you think of celebrity wines which wines that you have enjoyed you really liked and maybe which wines were disappointment to you and make sure to watch this video next