By Steph Moore

The number of celebrities (both living and dead) who are attaching their names and images to wine is growing rapidly. Wine writers are divided as to whether these are serious offerings or simply marketing gimmicks, but recent wine tastings show how much more seriously the wines are being taken. One observation, however, has been that prices can be high, as fans are willing to pay premium rates for the “genuine” bottle.

Wines endorsed by or actually created from celebrities’ own vineyards

Here are some of the celebrities lending their name and image to one or more wines; some are simply endorsing the wine, others are actually having them created in their own vineyards.

Australian golfer Greg Norman
Golfer Ernie Els,
Actress and singer Olivia Newton John
Film actor Sam Neill
Bob Dylan
Film director/legend Francis Ford Coppola
Actress Lorraine Bracco
Actor/Comic Dan Aykroyd
Former Bond girl Carole Bouquet (what a name for a winemaker!)
Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse
“Davy Crockett” actor Fess Parker

…and you don’t have to be alive to have a wine in your name…

Icon Marilyn Monroe (Interesting fact: the royalties paid by Marilyn Wines are distributed according to Marilyn’s will and go to Anna Strasberg, who helps support the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute and to the Anna Freud Foundation in London, which has set up a special child treatment center called the Monroe Young Family Center.)
Elvis Presley
Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia

This entry was posted on Monday, October 20th, 2008 at 4:37 pm and is filed under Dining, Vol. 3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.