When it comes to professional sports, is the NBA the wine appreciation champion? A recent ESPN The Magazine feature on basketball players’ drinking habits makes a compelling case. Here are nine takeaways about NBA players and their obsession with wine.
Jimmy Butler brought a wine case to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. Check out the VinGuard, which holds up to 12 bottles of wine.
Riesling was the gateway wine for Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony. One place you should be looking at for great Riesling that may surprise you? Oregon.
Speaking of Anthony, his “wow” wine was a bottle of 1986 Petrus, the iconic Bordeaux. Our European Editor, Roger Voss, gave the 2015 vintage 100 points.
Kevin Love proved his master blending skills at Brand winery, almost nailing the formula for their Brio wine during a team wine-blending exercise. (LeBron is a fan of Brio, too.)
Channing Frye lives in Oregon in the off-season, where he enjoys local Pinot Noir. Discover some of the best Oregon vineyards for Pinot Noir.
Steph Curry, Kevin Love and CJ McCollum are all on the wine app Vivino, and geek out scanning labels to learn more and keep track of what they’re drinking. As Love is quoted saying, “It’s like Netflix for wine.”
Ryan Anderson enjoys New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc so much, he and his wife went there for their honeymoon. Get the history this wildly popular wine.
Luol Deng passion for wine began in 2013 with a bottle of Malbec from Argentina shared among teammates while in Brazil for a preseason game. Take a deeper look into the grape in Argentina, Cahors and Washington.
J.J. Redick says the drinks on team planes have evolved over the last twelve years from 12-packs of Coors Light, vodka and Hennessey to “pretty much exclusively wine.”
Last Updated: May 4, 2023
