In June, as the Boston Celtics celebrated a record-breaking 18th title with a triumph over the Dallas Mavericks, the obligatory locker room Champagne drenching served as cover photo for many media outlets. A combination of Moët & Chandon — featured via its coveted role as the NBA’s official Champagne — and others soaked the revelers as plays were recounted and the Larry O’Brien trophy made its rounds.
While such scenes are common in just about any sport, the NBA has received copious coverage in the press for its fine-wine fever in recent years. Its aficionados and vintners have graced the pages of just about every wine or sports publication in some way or another. There’s no denying the obvious take: The NBA is obsessed with wine.
But by panning out to view the phenomenon from a level removed, another curious trend pops into the frame: the press’s obsession with covering the topic.
Sports journalist Baxter Holmes sent the story global with his seminal 2018 work for ESPN, “The NBA’s Secret Wine Society.” Over the past decade, photos of LeBron sipping Opus One courtside, the “Banana Boat Crew” wine toast, stories of Gregg Popovich’s legendary team wine dinners, and detailed accounts of who drinks what and why, have bubbled up relentlessly.
At first glance, it makes perfect sense. The NBA is a popular global brand, and stories detailing anything regarding the league no doubt provide a healthy share of interest and clicks. Give the people what they want — it’s business. Yet aside from the obvious, shouldn’t we be asking why, sociologically, this is such a hot ongoing story?
What is it about this pairing that piques the interest of even those who are not particularly into basketball or wine? And frankly, should we be doing a little soul-searching to consider whether or not there’s an underlying racial token element at play?
It’s a hot potato to be sure, but it’s certainly worth a dive into these murky depths. And as it turns out, our obsession with the NBA’s wine culture appears to have several layers to it.
The Right Player for the Hard Questions
Arguably no other player has a more complete view of the intersection between the league, its players, the wine industry, and society in general than the current president of the players union, CJ McCollum.
During his nine prolific years as featured sharpshooter for the Portland Trail Blazers, and via an introduction from wife Elise, McCollum developed an abiding passion for wine — particularly the adjacent Willamette Valley and its synonymous Pinot Noir. Despite a 2022 trade that landed the veteran guard with the New Orleans Pelicans, the McCollums had quite literally already put down roots in Oregon. A hands-on partnership with renowned producer Adelsheim, branded McCollum Heritage 91, was quickly followed by the couple’s acquisition and planting of a vineyard in the prestigious Yamhill-Carlton AVA. “For me, I don’t put my name on things unless I’m involved in it,” McCollum says.
“I think it surprises people that a lot of Black athletes are entering into this realm that has historically not been diverse. It shifts the narrative of Black athletes moving toward a predominantly white sector.”
Abundantly qualified, and holding a degree in journalism to boot, McCollum addresses the greater topic with ease and matter-of-fact honesty.
For starters, he says, there’s the negative stereotype of athletes in general — a zombie-like cliche forever following most professional physical competitors. And despite some progress, the tired universal image of gruff pros chugging cheap beer or pounding vodka shots in the club during the wee hours continues to pervade the public consciousness.
“I think we rarely get the benefit of the doubt regarding intellectual things,” McCollum says. And by nature, fine wine is a beverage of notoriously elitist intellect. “[By some] we’re viewed as gladiators,” he adds. “Entertain us, and that’s it.”
Tack on to that the wine world’s stubborn history of sexism and overwhelming whiteness, and it becomes clear that there’s a fine line to be walked between genuinely proactive socioeconomic inclusivity and tokenist novelty — especially in connection with a league comprised of over 70 percent Black players, by far the highest percentage of any major sport.
“I think it surprises people that a lot of Black athletes are entering into this realm that has historically not been diverse,” McCollum says. “It shifts the narrative of Black athletes moving toward a predominantly white sector.”
But despite the acknowledgement that these still-pervasive stereotypes continue to buoy the story in certain ways, McCollum believes that the overall conversation surrounding the NBA’s Black wine aficionados and professionals has a largely positive effect, and his personal wine journey thus far has been actively embraced. “Many people have been very helpful,” he says. “My wife and I are excited to be a part of the wine community. They have welcomed us with open arms.”
Star Power, Wine, and the Perfect Sport
From a structural level, the sport of basketball stands alone in many critically important ways. “There’s nothing that compares to the NBA,” says Ray Lalonde, television and radio sports business analyst and former director and group manager for NBA Europe. “As a sport, it has the most natural advantages. It’s just more accessible. It’s easy to build stars.”
“The NBA has become a 12-month-a year-publicity machine. I think the NBA has just done a much better job of that than baseball or American football.”
Paradoxically, the NFL is a far bigger draw for outright popularity in the U.S. with over 41 percent of the population recently declaring American football their favorite sport to watch, while basketball and baseball lag far behind, essentially tied around 10 percent.
Yet as a publicity star-maker, football is deficient in many ways. Hefty pads and unwieldy helmets cover bodies and faces. The action evolves slowly. Scoring can be infrequent. And the 22 players occupying the field on any given play might as well be in a different area code than the fans in the stadium. Outside of quarterbacks, receivers, and running backs, there’s very little opportunity for regular, individual displays of charisma and interaction with fans.
Likewise, the other two major team sports, baseball and hockey, have their own disadvantages in that regard. They find themselves either too slow, too sporadic, too chaotic, or too anonymous to consistently convey a competitively infectious cult of personality to the fans and across airwaves. And while soccer has made major strides in North America — and continues to be the most worshiped sport internationally — it has yet to find a seat at the table with the “Big Four” in the U.S. and Canada.
Then there’s basketball. As a vehicle for stars and their personalities and lifestyles, the NBA is damn near perfect.
With the fans literally seated on the court, the cameras catching every subtle expression, and the exciting action constant and high-scoring, the opportunities to capitalize on individual celebrity are limitless. “There’s something about NBA culture as a collective culture made up of a league of stars,” Lalonde says.
Add to that an approachable, deftly skillful league front office, and it’s no wonder Jackson Family Wines — perhaps the most highly regarded major wine company in the states — this year courted them for a featured partnership with its Kendall-Jackson brand. “The NBA has become a 12- month-a-year publicity machine,” says Michael Denzel, former managing director for NBA Asia. “I think the NBA has just done a much better job of that than baseball or American football.”
Wine’s Long Road Toward Inclusivity
Of course, there’s no harm in enjoying a shared intellectual passion with sports stars. Who wouldn’t want to partake in some wine shoptalk over a fine bottle with a celebrated player like McCollum? But besides the outright structure of the sport, it’s still important to consider why we find these intersections so enthralling. Is it because they’re a star, or because we as a society view them as an outlier novelty in some way or another?
Don’t get me wrong, by all means us wine professionals should make a point to be more proactively inclusive. While things have gotten better bit by bit, wine remains an industry and community in desperate need of less gatekeeping. It’s long past time to invite in those who have traditionally been excluded.
The NBA and its aficionados can most assuredly play a role in that inclusivity. The industry stars of both basketball and wine have much to offer one another. As long as the wine business follows through with proper intention, this long overdue collaboration will benefit both worlds. And ironically, the point at which we encounter more NBA pros positioned as wine critics and expert sources — with fewer stories about the baller bottles they’re drinking and “secret societies” — will be the clearest signal we’ve arrived.
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