Lately I seem to have been coming across a lot of  ‘Celebrity’ wines. This all started thanks to fellow blogger Jeff at The Drunken Cyclist who likes to throw in a picture question or two on this in his weekly Wine Trivia Wednesday quiz. As I usually get most of his questions wrong (the shame…), I tend to take to Google afterwards to find the correct answers and also explore a little bit. So what did I find out this week?

Firstly, what are ‘Celebrity’ wines – what does it mean?

Usually, this is one of three things:

1) A celeb owns a vineyard/estate and has little to no involvement in the actual winemaking process, simply enjoying the fruits of the labour for their own consumption ( e.g. the Beckhams);

2) As above, but the celeb also leverages their own name as a selling tool. This actually works – a 2007 study by Nielsen showed that sales of these wines were up 19% compared to previous, non-affiliated years. It also means you get quite a lot of corny pictures of celebs in vineyards, laughing uproariously while quaffing, and holding bottles. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Drew Barrymore.

3) Finally, celebs who are actually involved in the selection of grapes, the winemaking process, and do it for enjoyment or even because they come from a line of winemakers in the family. Probably the best example of this would be Francis Ford Coppola and his Rubicon Estate Winery.

Haute Living did a pretty nice feature on this you can check out here: Explore vineyards owned by celebrities and you can also get a pretty comprehensive list from Wikipedia (although don’t trust everything they tell you….)

I have to say I don’t blame them – I can’t think of many better things to invest some hard-earned cash in than wine, and a winery. It’s a smart business choice and also gives great pleasure – providing of course, the wine is any good.

Which brings me on to the next question: Are these wines actually any good?

I can imagine being attracted to a product because of a name, or celebrity endorsement – just look at sales of sportswear, perfumes, and even food (see Duchy Originals by Prince Charles – yes I KNOW they are ridiculously overpriced but who doesn’t like to imagine themselves as royalty when dunking a biscuit into a cuppa?)

But wine? And does the celebrity actually match with the wine they are selling? For example – I would hope that Antonio Banderas’ range of reds from Ribera del Duero are a lot like him – rich, smoky, sultry, with lots of character and a smooth finish. Likewise good old Drew Barrymore’s Pinot Grigio I would expect to be lightweight, insipid and forgettable, much like many of her recent romcom efforts. (Too harsh? Sorry to any hardcore Barrymore fans out there….)

Well, Buzzfeed has the answer! You may know Buzzfeed as being one of the best list/quiz websites – you know, Top 10 Autocorrect fails, 20 best moments from the Sochi Oympics opening ceremony, 12 everyday problems of being blonde, and my current top favourite “Which classic diva are you?” (Janet Jackson, apparently).

So, outside of the endless lists and general frippery serving as a distraction while you should be at your desk working, I found a genuinely good article on Buzzfeed about Celebrity Wines. They took 15 of the wines, and asked a Sommelier to do a blind tasting and rate them. The results? You can read for yourself here, but needless to say, some fared surprisingly better than others.

The moral of this story? If you want to taste a wine backed by a true celebrity, make sure it’s a celebrity of the wine world. Spend your cash on a reputed, well known and awarded producer/estate/winemaker, rather than a footballer/actress/porn star. At least that way you won’t be disappointed.