Wines of the Rich and Famous. When fortunes are made one of the most desirable trophies is to own a winery and vineyards. Stars from the big screen, sport and business are able to live the dream of many wine lovers the world over by being able have their own winery in the most prestigious wine regions.
One of the most successful winery owners, having made his name film director, is Francis Ford Coppola, director of the Godfather movies. He owns the historic Inglenook estate and winery with its 200 hectares of prime vineyards in Napa Valley, as well as the Francis Ford Coppola winery in Geyserville, California. The wines can be found under the Francis Ford Coppola label and Inglenook.
Sting, leading singer of The Police, who at their peak were the biggest rock band in the world, owns a beautiful estate in Tuscany called Tenuta Il Palagio. Together with his wife, actress Trudie Styler, they have more than 200 hectares of vineyards and Olive groves. The first vintage release was 2007, the names of the wines are taken from his songs; Sister Moon and Message in a bottle.
US President Elect Donald Trump, who by the way it teetotal, owns a 500 hectare vineyard estate in Virginia called, wait for it….. Trump Vineyard and Estate. Virginia it not that well own outside of the USA but it has a growing reputation for producing wines of decent quality.
Many stars from the world of sport are winery owners. Barça star Andrés Iniesta bought his first 10 hectares of vineyards back in the 1990’s. Today Bodegas Iniesta has a winery and estate of 120 hectares in Fuentealbilla in Manchuela, nearly Albacete. The wines are widely available under the labels Corazón Loco and Finca El Carril.
World famous golf stars Ernie Els and Greg Norman are winery owners. In the case of Greg Norman has projects in his native Australia as well as in California, Argentina and New Zealands under the ‘Greg Norman Estates’ range. Els own a winery in his native South Africa. The wines of Els in particular have scored very highly in the most prestigious wine competitions around the world.
The most recent arrivals onto the wine scene were Brad Pritt and Angelina Jolie who bought Chateau Miraval in Provence, France. The region of Provence is famous for its rosés and Brad and Angelina’s wine Miraval Rosé, a blend of local grape varieties cinsault, syrah and garnacha, had done very well.
Jack Ma, owner of Alibaba and the second richest man in China, owns several estates in Bordeaux. Most recently he bought Château Moulinet, a 16.8 hectare estate in Pomerol. In fact between his private estates and those of a group of Chinese châteaux owners he head they now have more than a dozen prime estates in Bordeaux.
The world of wine can become an absorbing passion as those mentioned above will testify.
