With news of LeBron James joining the three-comma club — making him the first active NBA player to make the billionaires list — his teammate, Carmelo Anthony is also preparing for his second act.
The 10-time NBA All-Star, What’s in Your Glass? host and current Los Angeles Laker has launched his own wine brand, VII(N) The Seventh Estate, in partnership with third-generation Rhône winemaker Stéphane Usseglio.
Anthony credits his time with the New York Knicks as a catalyst for becoming a wine connoisseur. “Wine is truly a part of the NBA culture,” he told Haute Living in an interview. “If you ask 30 different people, they will probably have 30 different taste profiles, but it goes to show that they do know what they want, right? They’re drinking it, so that’s a good thing. Getting a glass of wine is the thing to do now after a game. I love that because it’s 360 degrees from where it was before.”
Anthony joined forces with Usseglio to expand his knowledge of wine on everything from production to marketing. For VII(N) – The Seventh Estate’s inaugural vintage blend, named Oath of Fidelity, Carmelo chose the flavorful, yet subtle, Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The inspiration behind VII(N) – The Seventh Estate, and his choosing of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, stems from his love and admiration for the beauty and history of the Southern Rhône region of France.
“When I got to New York, my palette expanded. I started meeting people, getting into wine circles, and [eventually] I started this thing I like to call ‘two-bottle Sundays’ where everybody brings their best two bottles every Sunday,” he continued. “You would get rated on the bottles you brought — and everyone wanted to bring their best.”
The first blend will become available for purchase this fall. Until then, wine connoisseurs can also hear more about Anthony’s shared passion for all things wine on his viral podcast, which he launched to discuss the world of fine wine and utilized it as a vehicle to engage in thought-provoking conversations with special guests around the state of the country and what we can do to push progress forward.
Through his newest venture, he aims to expand the presence of people of color within the wine community.