40 Celebrities With Their Own Wine or Liquor Brands

This Australian rock band formed a partnership with their home country’s Warburn Estate winery in 2011 to release a series of wines named for some of their biggest songs — among them Highway to Hell Cabernet Sauvignon, Hells Bells Sauvignon Blanc, and Back in Black Shiraz. They are said to have “collaborated” with winemakers in creating the brand. They have also lent their name (and collaborative talents?) to German-made AC/DC Premium Lager Beer and AC/DC Thunderstruck Tequila, produced by the Fabrica de Tequilas Finos distillery in Jalisco, Mexico.

Ackroyd has been in the spirits game for a while, having launched this brand in 2007, in collaboration with artist John Alexander, who designed the skull-shaped bottle. The Canadian-born Blues Brother and Ghostbuster has the spirit distilled in Newfoundland. It is said to be “filtered multiple times and as a final stage passes three times through Herkimer diamonds, spiritually charged semi-precious quartz crystals.” (The Canadian-born Aykroyd also appends his name to a line of Niagara-area wines produced by the Diamond Estates Group of Toronto.)

The Italian-born race car legend first got interested in wine when he retired from the track in 1994. One of the ad agencies he’d worked with suggested commemorating his withdrawal from the racing world with a special-label bottle of cabernet sauvignon. He enjoyed the experience, and went on to buy a 53-acre Napa Valley vineyard in partnership with his former friend and sometime sponsor Joe Antonini, former CEO of Kmart. The two subsequently built a Tuscan-style winery, and the facility now turns out a wide range of wines under the direction of winemaker Bob Pepi. “I am very involved in all of the pertinent decisions of the winery,” Andretti told Haute Living.

In 2009, Spanish heartthrob Banderas bought a 50% interest in a ten-year-old winery in Spain that was then called Anta Bodegas, and renamed it for himself. He had been looking for a wine operation to become involved with, he has said, and remembered a property he had been shown by a relative in the esteemed Ribera del Duero region. When he made the deal, he said that he wanted to be involved first-hand in all the production processes.

Actress Barrymore, who has appeared in more than 75 films and TV series (including an early turn, at the age of 6, as one of the stars of “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”), puts her name on a pinot grigio, a pinot noir, and a pinot noir rosé crafted by winemaker Kris Kato at Monterey County’s Carmel Road Winery. “She conveys to Kris what kind of profile, in non-technical terms, she wants,” according to the Napa Valley wine blog The Wine Siren, “[and] Kris works in the vineyards and with the grapes [to be] able to bring that vision to life.”

Country star Chesney is serious about rum — so serious that his COO, Tim Houston, told Forbes that “He was almost to the altar with a [big-company partner] before he turned away” because he didn’t think they would honor his vision. And his marketing director, Monica Papuga, told the publication that “Kenny makes the final call on everything: packaging, juices, flavor ideas, you name it.” The rum, which comes plain and in a number of variations (including Coconut Spiced and Key Lime Rum Cream) is produced by the West Indies Rum Distillery in Barbados.

The debonair actor and his longtime friend — a bar and restaurant impresario married to supermodel Cindy Crawford — partnered (along with residential real estate developer Mike Meldman) to launch this award-winning premium tequila in 2013. It was so successful that in 2017 they sold the brand to spirits giant Diageo for $1 billion with $700 million of that up front. Last year, Casamigos also released a mezcal. The founding partners may no longer be owners, but they remain involved with the brand.

Acclaimed director and producer Coppola and his wife moved to the Napa Valley in 1975, buying 1,560 acres of the old Inglenook Winery estate with profits from his hit “Godfather” films, and establishing the Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery there. (Niebaum was the Finnish-born sea captain who established Inglenook in 1879.) Coppola’s wine empire now also includes the Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Sonoma County — a complex billed as offering “cinema, wine, food, hideaways & adventure” and selling 13 lines of wine. Coppola also recently acquired the Vista Hills Vineyard in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and has even launched a Grower’s Series of cannabis.

The “Breaking Bad” co-stars say that they enjoyed working together so much on the show that they decided to start a business together. Paul was a mezcal fan (Cranston wasn’t), but the two made numerous trips to Oaxaca, the Mexican state where the best mezcal is made, looking for the right example. They say they worked on the project for three years before releasing the finished product in 2019.

Other actors might prefer whiskey or tequila, but the diminutive Italian-American star of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “Taxi,” “Romancing the Stone,” and countless other movies and TV shows honors his heritage with this tart-sweet liqueur made in Italy from Sorrento lemons.

This French vodka, made from wine grapes, was selling poorly in the U.S. until 2007, when its parent company, Diageo, engaged rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs as brand manager and chief marketing officer. While other rappers, including Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, have endorsement deals with liquor brands, Combs is said to be a true partner in the brand, receiving half its profits. He has also formed Combs Wines and Spirits, and purchased an interest in DeLeón tequila.

Launched in 2016, this collaboration between the noted Canadian rapper, singer, and actor and spirits entrepreneur Brent Hocking — founder of DeLeón Tequila — is a blend of several bourbons with a high rye content. Hocking has stressed that the partnership is “authentic” and that Drake is fully involved in the creative process.

“We wanted to create a collection of American whiskeys that, in their own way, tell a story,” said Dylan, better-known for telling stories in song (like the one for which his brand is named), when he launched his line of bourbons and ryes last year. This spring he announced that he would open the Heaven’s Door Distillery and Center for the Arts in Nashville in the fall of 2020.

The South African golf star founded his winery, in his country’s premium Stellenbosch wine region, in 2000, bringing in a German investor five years later but retaining what he has called an “ongoing and active role in the company.” The winery website notes that Els is “very much involved in the tasting process.”

The former Black-Eyed Peas singer known only as Fergie founded this Santa Barbara County winery with her father, Pat Ferguson, in 2006. One of the region’s most respected winemakers, Joey Tensley, makes the mostly Rhône-style wines — including a blend of syrah, cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot, and grenache called Fergalicious. Fergie herself has been seen actually working in the vineyards and even stomping grapes in the old traditional fashion. (Fergie is also a minority partner in Voli 305 Vodka, joining rapper Pitbull as an investor; see below.)

Restaurateur and “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” host Fieri released his first Hunt & Ryde wines in 2016, working with Sonoma County’s Davis Wines. (The winery is named for his sons, Hunter and Ryder.) He has planted vineyards and instituted organic farming methods on the property. “This isn’t juice that somebody else made that we just put in a bottle and put my name on it, which a lot of people do,” he told GQ.

Goggins, co-star of the award-winning FX series “Justified” and such movies as “Lincoln” and “Django Unchained,” opened this distillery and private cocktail lounge in partnership with cinematographer Matt Alper in 2016. Gin, vodka, and whiskey are produced. The two own the company and collaborate on business decisions.

The hockey great’s operation, based in Niagara-on-the-Lake, on Lake Ontario, just over the Canadian border from the U.S., produces a hat trick’s worth of alcoholic beverages. These include roughly 20 different wines from grapes grown both in Ontario and across the country in British Columbia; a Rye Lager beer; and a line of whiskys and other spirits.

The onetime Van Halen frontman had a hit with his Cabo Wabo tequila, which started life as the house brand at his Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in 1996. By 2006 it was selling 140,000 cases annually worldwide. In 2007, he sold an 80% stake in the brand to Italy’s Gruppo Campari for $80 million — and then got another $11 million from Campari in 2010 for the balance. Hagar didn’t waste time with a follow-up, though, releasing this Maui-made rum the following year. His partner in the enterprise, distiller Mark Nigbur, who also produces pineapple-juice-based Pau Vodka, told Honolulu Magazine “Sammy has an amazing palate, he knows what he’s doing.” (Hagar is also involved in another alcohol project with Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine; see below.)

In August, the Jonas Brothers singing star launched Villa One Tequila, in partnership with fashion designer John Varvatos and the same Mexican distillery that produces AC/DC’s entry in the tequila field. Jonas said he and Varvatos felt that “it was critical to us that we take part in the decision-making process every step of the way….” The two had earlier collaborated on a men’s cologne called JVxNJ.

Popularly known as “Ace of Spades,” after its logo, this pricey super-premium champagne brand (it retails for as much as $500 a bottle) was bought by billionaire rapper and business mogul Jay-Z in 2014. In the case of D’Ussé cognac, he shares ownership with the massive international spirits firm Bacardi, and functions as the brand’s head of global strategy.

The NBA legend has teamed up with Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, Milwaukee Bucks owner Wes Edens, Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, and Grousbeck’s wife, Emilia Fazzalari, to launch this new premium tequila brand. Jordan designed the unusual bottle, with an angled punt (the indentation on the bottle’s bottom) and a crystal stopper. The partners say they tasted more than 1,000 tequilas to settle on the taste profile they wanted.

In 2017, Adam Levine, lead singer for Maroon 5, joined with veteran rocker Sammy Hagar to introduce a new kind of spirit — a mashup of mezcal and tequila, made from two different types of agave. Hagar, who sold his Cabo Wabo tequila brand in two stages for a total of $91 million, tasted numerous blends of the two spirits with Levine to arrive at the final product.

The “Twin Peaks” star was born in Yakima, Washington, so it’s not surprising that when he decided to get into the wine game, he’d do it in the state’s premium Walla Walla wine region, not far miles from his birthplace. There, in partnership with local winemaker Eric Dunham, he oversees production of a syrah, a cabernet sauvignon, and a rosé (called “Blushing Bear”). The winery name is an actor’s in-joke: It’s a reference to the famous and mysterious stage direction given by Shakespeare in “The Winter’s Tale” — in which Antigonus is directed to “Exit, pursued by a bear.”

Irish mixed martial arts champion McGregor’s whiskey, made by former Bushmills distiller David Elderman, was released last year. The fighter is the brand’s majority shareholder and CEO, and spent four months at the end of 2018 touring the U.S. to promote it. The whiskey has been a success, selling out its U.S. allocation in just ten days.

Rocker Manson (born Brian Hugh Warner) is a big fan of “the Green Fairy” — the romantic name by which absinthe is known. A powerful liquor flavored with wormwood that was once banned in the U.S. and much of Europe (it was said to induce insanity) it is still regulated by the FDA. Manson’s Swiss-distilled version first appeared in 2007. His collaborator on the project, Markus Lion from absinthe.de, a German online absinthe merchant, has said that “Manson was intensely involved in the development, constantly tasting the samples, giving his opinion and providing suggestions for change.” He also designed the label.

South Africa-born Matthews started his popular Dave Matthews Band in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. In 1999, he bought a property in the area called Blenheim Farm, later planting grapes there, designing a winery, and creating labels for the wine that was eventually released. In 2011, he added to his portfolio by inaugurating The Dreaming Tree Wines in California’s Sonoma County, working with winemaker Sean McKenzie. (“The Dreaming Tree” is a track from Matthews’s 1998 album “Before These Crowded Streets.”)

Members of this quintessential heavy metal band worked together “at every step” in creating their limited release beer in conjunction with Southern California’s Stone Brewing — including, according to Food & Wine, holding “backstage drinking sessions.” The band had previously lent its name to a limited-edition Budweiser sold in black cans, in Canada only. Metallica is also involved with Blackened, a blended whiskey made by WhistlePig distiller Dave Pickerell. Named after a track on the band’s 1988 album “…And Justice For All,” Blackened was aged through a process dubbed Black Noise. Using a proprietary subwoofer speaker to amplify bass tones, the whiskey has been — according to the distillery — “bathed in low hertz sound waves so intense that it actually intensifies the molecular interaction and ultimately the finish [of the liquor].”

The Shanghai-born basketball star’s Napa Valley wines aren’t cheap — the cabernet sauvignons, the specialty, range in price from $95 to $258 a bottle — but famed wine critic Robert Parker called them “actually brilliant.” Yao told his winemaker, Tom Hinde, formerly of Flowers Vineyard & Winery, that he wanted to produce rich, balanced reds of the kind he’d come to know at the steakhouses of Houston during his career there with the Rockets. According to Forbes, Ming “flies in from Shanghai for all the key decision making, [and] very much directs the nuances of the style.”

The “Jurassic Park” star was born in Northern Ireland but moved with his parents to New Zealand when he was 7, and it is in that country’s prime Central Otago wine country that he established his winery in 1993. Neill has been around wine all his life — his father ran a wine business in the town of Dunedin — and even when he’s off shooting a movie or TV series, he keeps in constant touch with his winery team. He’s also growing oak trees on the property, from which he hopes to one day make wine barrels.

The Australian golf champion known as “The Shark” founded his wine company in 1996 on southeastern Australia’s Limestone Coast. Today, the shark-emblazoned label also appears on wines from Argentina, New Zealand, and California. The Australian wines have about a 60% market share of premium Aussie wine business. Norman himself isn’t involved with the winemaking, but as chairman and CEO of Great White Shark Enterprises, which oversees Greg Norman Estates among other companies, he maintains managerial oversight — while his son, Greg Jr., works closely with the wine operation.

The Cuban-American rapper born Armando Christian Perez — who once recorded a song called “Maldito Alcohol” (“Damned Alcohol”) — is the majority owner of this Miami-based vodka brand, and its spokesman. The vodka is distilled from Florida corn, and is said to be between 25% and 40% lower in calories than other brands. Singer Fergie (see above) also has a stake in the company.

In 2016, members of this Celtic punk band rolled out their own blend of grain and malt whiskeys, produced by West Cork Distillers in the historic town of Skibbereen. The band, says the liquor’s press material, “was deeply involved in the creation of [the] Whiskey from start to finish.” The result, said the band’s lead singer, Shane MacGowan, is a whiskey “that we all think reflects our spirit and energy, and that we all enjoy the taste of.”

They may have gone through an acrimonious divorce, complete with a bitter child custody battle (the two are now legally single, though the final papers haven’t been signed), but these glamorous box-office stars are still business partners. They bought this estate in Provence in 2011. The winery, run by the Perrin family (Rhône Valley wine royalty), is famous for its premium rosés.

“Beverly Hills, 90210” actor Priestley, who was born in British Columbia, is an investor in the Black Hills Estate Winery in that province’s Okanagan Valley. He has long been an avid wine collector, and maintains a 5,000-bottle personal cellar.

The Vancouver-born actor (“Deadpool”) has bought into this gin brand, produced in Portland, Oregon. The CEO of Aviation’s parent company, Davos Brands, told Adweek that the actor would not only be the face of the brand but would be involved in “the entire creative process for Aviation, including Aviation’s marketing and strategy.”

Musician Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, bought this once-moribund estate in Tuscany, south of Florence, in 1997. They brought it back to life, and today the property yields wine, olive oil, and honey. Neither Sting nor his wife is involved in the winemaking, beyond participating in tastings, but he says that he likes the acoustics in the cellar, so goes there to play his guitar and sing. Of course, he joked to The Drinks Business, that might make the wine worse.

Grammy-winning country star Strait’s involvement with this high-end tequila brand seems to be mostly as an investor (former Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan and ice hockey star Brett Hull also have money in the venture). He told Fortune that he also plans to use his public platform to help make the brand a success.

Stripper turned actor Tatum says that he embarked on a quest to find the best-tasting vodka in America, and discovered it at the Grand Teton Distillery in Driggs, Idaho. According to the company that produces it, the vodka was ” born from Channing Tatum’s imagination and bred by the Grand Teton Distillery” — whatever that means. He certainly seems serious about promoting it, in any case, at one point actually hand-delivering bottles to fans in Los Angeles who had ordered it online.

The actor/singer first released his 901 — that’s the area code of his hometown of Memphis — in 2009 after a visit to Mexico. In 2014, he rebranded it with Suntory Holdings’ Beam-owned Sauza line. “I believe in [the tequila] because I made it,” Timberlake told the Wall Street Journal, adding that he has a hand in all aspects of it, though he relies heavily on Beam to market it.