Carmelo Anthony makes a big move in the wine game
The former NBA star hopes for a slam dunk with wine enthusiasts.
Carmelo Anthony is taking his wine business "pro."
The former NBA All Star is partnering with the legendary Napa winery Robert Mondavi to create his latest vintage, Ode to Soul, a robust red blend featuring grapes from California's famous To Kalon Vineyards.
It's the second offering from Anthony's global wine brand, VII(N) The Seventh Estate, which he co-founded with Asani Swann in 2022, a year before he officially retired from the NBA.
Basketball and wine may not seem like a natural combination, but for Anthony, it has been a way of life since he was a rookie with the Denver Nuggets, a team owned by Stan Kroenke, who also owns Screaming Eagle Winery and Vineyards in Napa.
"We were on the road every single day, in and out of hotels and restaurants and bars," Anthony told ABC News.
"Years ago it wasn't acceptable. I was frowned upon for drinking wine. It was like, 'You're 21 years old drinking wine. What do you know about that?' But now it's an ecosystem. Over the years, as my palate started to expand, and I started to have these experiences in these wine communities, I realized that I had to find my time and my space within that community."
The former Syracuse NCAA champion remembers carrying cases of wine on planes from game to game and sharing it with teammates. He helped convert LeBron James and Chris Paul into oenophiles and planted the seeds for what has become the NBA's obsession with wine.
In April, the league signed Kendall-Jackson to be its first official wine partner, while Dwyane Wade, Stephen Curry, CJ McCollum and James Harden are among the NBA stars with their own private wine labels.
Anthony says starting his own wine brand was a natural progression. "I realized I'm spending too much money on buying wine and consuming wine, that I might as well just invest that money into my own business," he said.
He says VII(N) The Seventh Estate is now actively having conversations with organizations to carry his wines. "We are going up against these big brands and these big houses where we have to be very strategic and intentional [about] how are we going to enter either that arena ... because it is a crowded field," he added.
Not satisfied with simply slapping his name on the bottle, Anthony is intimately involved in the process. "I'm there every step of the way from being on the grounds to being a part of the creative team," he said. "I'm also part of the actual script of it all, which is the grapes, the bottle and blending and formula."
Anthony's fans may be in for some sticker shock when they go to buy his wine. Ode to Soul retails for $275 a bottle, while its predecessor, Ode to Fidelity, sells for $135. It's something Anthony says he is aware of and working to change.
"We've listened, we've observed and we understand," Anthony said when asked if he will roll out more affordable wines. "I'm able to take that information and what the consumer is asking for and engage in the conversations online and see what they really like and make a product that caters to that. I'm excited about that process. We're catering to everybody and at a lot of different price points."
Anthony promised new, less expensive varietals in 2025 and said he plans to eventually expand his wine empire to include wines from all over the world, including from Argentina, New Zealand, Portugal and South Africa.
He and Asani are also keenly aware that the wine industry lacks diversity. Less than 1% of U.S. wine companies are black-owned, according to the Association of African American Vintners, something Anthony and Asani hope to change.
"The goal is to get the message out about all of the different jobs that are available in the wine industry, and we want to utilize our platform to communicate what those opportunities are and diversify the pipeline," Asani said.
Anthony, meanwhile, said he hopes his journey through the wine industry will be an inspiration to others.
"I think people are able to see me actually put the work in. It was just not overnight, I've been putting in the work for years. We know how hard this industry really is," he said. "For the longest time, doors have always been shut. So now, we can open the doors up, and we're going to bring the tribe along."
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