First, the sheer popularity of wine in the NBA. Some of the players are even taking team-sponsored vineyard visits:
Second, the article's introduction focused on a group of Cavs players visiting the Mayacama winery. I hadn't heard of Mayacama before, but it seems that the winery is a Napa Valley staple. They only offer three wines on their website: a 2013 cabernet sauvignon, a 2013 merlot, and a 2003 cabernet sauvignon. I think the ability to purchase older wine directly from the vineyard is intriguing, and given the price ($250 vs. $150 for the 2013 cab) I'd also like to note that the vineyard is earning a 5.25% annual return just for cellaring the wine. Of course, this assumes that the 2003 cabernet sauvignon would retail for $150 years ago, which is a big assumption. Even so, the return strikes me as reasonable if you have the room to cellar the wine.
Third, various winemakers were impressed by the detailed and sophisticated nature of the NBA players' questions. These clearly aren't mere dilettantes. Carissa Mondavi offers the following analogy: "NBA players are the product of so many unseen hours spent perfecting so many hidden details, all leading to the moment when the ball is tossed in the air. So too is wine crafted against countless variables -- the weather, soil, harvest, tanks, the barrels and blends, the delicate alchemy of it all -- until, one day, the cork is pulled. For both to shine, it takes so much work no one will ever see." The precision needed for winemaking has a corollary in the intense focus that drives elite athletic performances!
Rob, I loved this article from ESPN too. I wonder if another aspect of it is the potential health benefits for athletes. These world-class athletes have 2 competing motivations: 1. always looking for an edge over their components and 2. still wanting to enjoy themselves. How great would it be to have a product you can indulge in that is also going to give you that edge? With resveratrol and antioxidants highly prevalent in the red wines discussed in the article (and all of Lebron's social media), this players can justify this indulgence by almost treating it as a performance enhancer. As much as I would love to agree with Mondavi's analogy, in my eyes, NBA players have realized that they can have their cake and eat it too when it comes to wine.
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