Given my fandom, I was delighted earlier this week when a friend brought over a bottle of Dreaming Tree Wine (named after a song from a 1998 DMB album) - a $13 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from CVS Pharmacy - crafted by winemaker Sean McKenzie and Dave himself.
I was delighted by the quality of the wine - and it appears to have the attention, albeit with mixed reviews, of many others, with a 4.3/5.0 rating on TotalWine and a 3.7/5.0 on Vivino (~17K reviews!).
Dreaming Tree is the only celebrity wine I've tried - upon further research, it appears Dave's celebrity does wonders for the brand's marketability - with Sean McKenzie remarking that the company expects that about half of the company's customers are DMB fans, or at least are aware of the Dave Matthews connection.
What could possibly motivate a multi-hundred-millionaire musician to take on a business endeavor as a winemaker? The connection for Dave seems to have started based on his American roots (he's originally from South Africa) in Charlottesville, Virginia (also home to UVA Darden), which has a few beautiful vineyards - and, upon my own time exploring the town - a very prevalent wine culture. Beyond his roots, other motivations appear to be from a similar drive to create experiences and community (similar to bringing people together at his concerts) and sustainability, with over $1M donated by Dreaming Tree Wines to environmental causes.
Do you have a favorite celebrity wine (list here)? And was your motivation to buy based on celebrity? Amidst the noisy world of wine brands, I expect celebrity wine-branding to continue to serve as an effective edge in marketing and distribution.
Sources:
https://www.dailynews.com/2018/09/19/dave-matthews-fans-can-drink-his-wine-the-award-winning-the-dreaming-tree/
www.dreamingtreewines.com
http://scottsseafood.net/theriver/new-featured-wines-from-the-dreaming-tree/
Great post Tommy - glad to hear the Dreaming Tree was good! This trend of celebrity wine (and alcohol more generally) is certainly an interesting one and seems to be picking up more speed by the year (Bob Dylan has a Whiskey, The Rock is releasing a Tequila, Ryan Reynolds bought Aviation Gin). To your last point, I wonder how many of these celebrities are motivated by economics vs. other things like charity or owning a vanity asset. Assuming you can make good wine, the strategy seems to make a ton of sense from a business point of view as these celebs are essentially just cross-selling a new product into their already loyal and existing customer base. The customers are that much easier to acquire and the marketing somewhat takes care of itself. That, in addition to huge success stories like George Clooney's $1B Casamigos, likely makes these investments feel pretty compelling for celebrities even if the chances of success are ultimately pretty tough.
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