Fergie to launch her own wine

Pop star Fergie is to launch her own wine brand after buying a vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara, California. As reported on db.com, the California-born Black Eyed Peas singer will produce her own Ferguson Crest wines from the Santa Barbara estate, which will double as her father’s new home.

The Meet Me Halfway songstress revealed to Forbes Life magazine she’s been busy investing in a number of new property projects, including her vineyard venture. "It's an investment. I'm investing in real estate. Plus, my dad is going to have a great house,” she told the magazine. Grape growing at the estate will be overseen by Fergie’s horticulturalist father, Pat Ferguson.

The Ferguson Crest range, which includes a single estate Syrah, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Viognier, will be released in the US later this year. The wines will be small production – in the region of 1,000 cases of Syrah a year, and even smaller amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Viognier.

Born Stacy Ann Ferguson, Fergie also has her own perfume – Outspoken, produced in collaboration with Avon, and is part-owner of the Miami Dolphins American football team. She is the latest in an increasingly long line of celebrity vintners.

Earlier this year, actress Drew Barrymore released her own wine – Barrymore 2011 Pinot Grigio, from grapes grown in the Veneto, Friuli and Alto Adige in Northern Italy. Last month, former Eurythmics star Dave Stewart teamed up with McLaren Vale estate Mollydooker to release Ringmaster General Shiraz 2010 to coincide with his upcoming album of the same name.

Pop icon Lady Gaga is also hoping to turn her hand to winemaking, and was spotted looking for vineyard land in Sonoma County this March with boyfriend Taylor Kinney. Director Francis Ford Coppola, classical singer Andrea Bocelli, and actors Dan Aykroyd, Sam Neill and Antonio Banderas all also have their own wine brands. 

Lady Gaga to make own wine brand

Lady Gaga reportedly wants to make her own wine with boyfriend Taylor Kinney. As reported on thedrinksbusiness.com, the pop icon was spotted in Sonoma County last week, and is interested in buying a property in the area with a view to making her own wine. During the visit, Gaga told guests she and Kinney want to grow their own grapes.

"Gaga is really into her food and wine. When she isn't on tour she is cooking and drinking the most expensive bottles she can get her hands on. After touring in Europe she has taken a real interest in the production of her favourite reds," a source told the Sun. "She also sees a vineyard as a business investment and something she can work on when her pop career comes to an end,” the source added. The 25-year-old Italian American recently revealed she was a huge fan of red wine.

"My favourite way to catch up with friends is to have wine and food nights. We cook together and drink six or seven bottles of red wine," she said. During her trip to California, Gaga stopped into Sonoma's Best wine shop. "When she came in I noticed the stiletto heals and knew she couldn’t be from Sonoma," said owner Gayle Jenkins.

Two days later, the songstress was spotted in the area again with Kinney, who joined Gaga at the bar of The Girl & the Fig where the pair sipped the restaurant's signature Fig Kiss cocktail featuring FigCello di Sonoma liqueur, made locally from hand picked black mission figs.

In December, db touted Gaga as one of our five “Ones to Watch” in 2012 in our Power List issue, predicting the singer to impact upon the wine market this year, having often tweeted about her love of wine to her 16m Twitter followers. The eccentric singer, born Stefani Germanotta, topped last year’s Forbes celebrity list, with a net worth of US$90m.

Last week, actress Drew Barrymore revealed she had joined the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Madonna, Dan Aykroyd and Antonio Banderas by launching her own wine – Barrymore 2011 Pinot Grigio, Delle Venezie IGT. With Gaga now in on the act, the celebrity wine movement is gaining traction, placed to usurp perfume as the hobby brand of choice for the stars. Is wine finally getting the celebrity attention it deserves, or should these starlets be sticking to what they do best?

Ones to Watch in 2012

thedrinksbusiness.com brings you a quintet of rising stars set to impact upon consumer luxury wine and spirits spend in 2012.

Peter Sisseck, Age: 49

Danish-born Sisseck is the creator and owner of cult Spanish wine Pingus (from Ribera del Duero), which has been ranked as the highest scoring wine by Robert Parker for the last five years according to the Liv-ex Power 100. Parker declared Pingus’ first vintage (1995) “one of the greatest and most exciting wines I have ever tasted.” No more than 8,500 bottles of are produced each year, which sell for more than £400 a piece. Sisseck’s second wine, Flor de Pingus, is also proving popular with Parkerites. The great Dane’s uncle, Peter Vinding-Diers, transformed the quality of white Graves in the ‘80s, perhaps explaining why Sisseck has branched out to St Emilion, where he runs the biodynamic estate Château de Rocheyron.

Lady Gaga, Age: 25

The eccentric singer topped this year’s Forbes celebrity list, with an estimated net worth of US$90m. Representing the power of celebrity endorsement in the luxury wine and spirits sphere, I could have chosen a number of world-famous stars, but Gaga made the cut for being the most talked about and photographed celebrity of the moment. Often tweeting about her love of wine to her 16m Twitter followers, the Italian American songstress could start a luxury drinks trend at the drop of one of her Philip Tracey hats. She hasn’t yet, but she could.

Yao Ming, Age: 31

Last month, the Chinese NBA basketball star announced plans to release “Yao Ming” wine in China at £384 a bottle. The Shanghai-born sports star, worth more than US$65 million, has ventured into wine just months after retiring from basketball to meet a growing thirst for wine in his home country. Yao Family Wines use grapes from six vineyards in the Napa Valley, though Ming also owns a winery in Napa. The first batch of “Yao Ming” is a 2009 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. Magnums of the wine are expected to sell for £6,000 at an upcoming charity auction in China.

Erik Lorincz, Age: 31

Last year, the Slovakian-born head bartender at the newly reopened American Bar at The Savoy, out-mixed, out-stirred and out-shook 9,000 bartenders to win the Diageo Reserve World Class Bartender of the Year competition, leading him to be dubbed “the best bartender in the world” by the Wall Street Journal. This year he was crowned International Bartender of the Year at the prestigious Tales of the Cocktail 5th Annual Spirits Awards in New Orleans. Before The American Bar, Lorincz was working his shaker at The Connaught Bar. Catch him in the capital while you still can...

Wu Fei, Age: 41

The general manager of the wine and spirits branch of COFCO, China’s largest oils and food trader, plans to aggressively expand the company’s vineyard ownership overseas on the heels of two recent purchases, with sights set on Australia and the United States. COFCO has been expanding internationally to diversify its portfolio and compete with international brands. It purchased Château Viaud in Lalande de Pomerol for US$15m in February. Fei is in charge of umbrella brand The Great Wall, China’s most famous wine brand worth €1.4 billion, which sells 120m bottles a year.

Wine and music: notes from the glass

It all started with Aurelio Montes playing monastic chants to his maturing wine casks in his Feng Shui-optimised barrel room. I got to thinking about wine and music, and whether there really is a correlation between the two. Can what we drink be made to taste better depending on the soundtrack we sip it to? Apparently so – a study carried out by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh found that music can affect perception in other senses and change the way wine tastes.

The research is based on the theory of cognitive priming, which holds that certain styles of music stimulate, or prime, certain parts of the brain. When wine is tasted, these areas are already active and have a corresponding effect on our perceptions of taste. Hence when a powerful piece of music such as O Fortuna from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana is played, a wine like Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon is perceived as being richer and more robust than when no music is heard. Similarly, a Chardonnay seems bolder and fresher when accompanied by pop.

So which CD's do I whack on when I'm cracking open a bottle? A Tempranillo calls for something upbeat and fun – Chuck Berry or the Contours, while a Pinot demands something brooding, pensive and introspective, say Feist or Regina Spektor. Champagne goes best with effervescent and ebullient tracks from the likes of the Noisettes, Lady Gaga and La Roux, while Merlot is made for mellow music – Otis, Jack Johnson and José Gonzales. Nothing goes better with a crisp, dry Manzanilla than the passionate lyrics of Pasión Vega, or the hypnotic chords of Paco de Lucía. Syrah screams guitar – Hendrix, Guns N' Roses and Green Day would all work a treat, while I can think of nothing better to accompany a sweet, mouthfilling PX than treacle-voiced Ella Fitzgerald singing Cheek to Cheek.