Monthly Archives: March 2025

Wine Goes to the Circus: Stags’ Leap Winery & Cirque du Soleil

March 25, 2025 By in brands, popular culture, wine 2 Comments


New consumers and new occasions are on every winery’s wish list these days. You can sit around and wait for things to happen or you can go out and try to help people discover wine and find a reason to drink it. You might not think that a circus performance is the obvious occasion for a glass of wine (or that the families that attend such events are obvious potential customers), but old thinking won’t necessarily solve the problem.

That’s how Sue and I ended up at a performance of Cirque du Soleil’s  KOOZA traveling show enjoying Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley’s Stags’ Leap Winery, the show’s official wine  partner.

Follow the Crowds?

Whoever said the only places to enjoy a glass of wine are the restaurants, bars, and your dinner table at home? Wine should go where people go. Follow the money, Deep Throat said. Follow the crowds is good wine advice today. And pour them a glass of wine.

And so wine has slowly and now suddenly started to appear in places you might not expect, including sports events and entertainment venues of all sorts, including Cirque du Soleil.

I know that wine is no stranger at sports competitions from watching Formula 1 auto racing over the years. Ferrari Trento has been the official podium sparkling wine sponsor for several years, for example, before being replaced by LVMH’s Moët & Chandon last year. But is F1 and wine an isolated case?

AI Intern Report

I asked my artificial intelligence intern if wine and sports linkups were very common and it quickly came up with an interesting list, starting with the partnership between Concha y Toro’s Cassillero del Diablo brand and the Manchester United Football Club (a.k.a. the Red Devils). United is having a poor season, so stadium fans may especially appreciate a glass of Chilean red.

Australia’s Hardy’s wine brand sponsors English Cricket, my intern noted, a relationship that might get awkward during The Ashes test matches. And Trivento is the official wine sponsor of English Premiership Rugby. Wine and sports seem to be a perfect pairing in Britain.

So it is obvious that many international wineries already see sports as a way to connect with sports fans around the world. What about U.S. wineries? Well, yes, my AI intern, replied. U.S. wineries are quite active in this arena and the connection is not as contrived as you might think. Many famous NBA and NFL players are known wine lovers, for example. Some even have their own wine brands.  Examples  of American wine and sports connections? My intern reports …

  • Jackson Family Wines has partnered with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).
  • Copper Cane Wines & Spirits: Partnered with five Major League Baseball teams, including the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, and Atlanta Braves. Copper Cane is also linked to several National Hockey League teams.
  • Gallo is the official wine partner of the National Football League.
  • Argentina’s Trivento is the wine partner of Major League Soccer.
  • Nobilo Winery: Official wine sponsor of the U.S. National Pickleball Club.

Wine Goes to the Circus

Stags’ Leap Winery, part of Treasury Wine Estates’ California winery collection, is official sponsor of Cirque du Soleil’s “big top” shows all over the world. Clearly Cirque du Soleil benefits from its association with a famous wine brand. And wine in general and Stags’ Leap Winery in particular benefit from the opportunity for face time (and lip time) with an audience that comes to be surprised, amazed, and delighted. That’s how people think of Cirque du Soleil and that’s how we’d like them to think about wine, don’t you think?

Sue and I were particularly pleased to receive an invitation to attend a performance of KOOZA under the big top in Redmond, Washington (we were Stags’ Leap Winery’s guests ) because we remember the program’s creator, David Shiner, so well from his Seattle theater days.  He worked with fellow clown Bill Irwin on the Tony-winning “Fool Moon.”

We had a wonderful time. We were surprised, amazed, and delighted by the show and very happy both to sip our Cabernet Sauvignon and to watch other audience members enjoying perhaps their first taste of “circus wine.”  The wine-circus partnership impressed us as subtle and classy, as you might expect. Circus goers were no doubt surprised to have the opportunity to enjoy such high-quality wines at an entertainment event.

We had high hopes for this partnership and the experience exceeded our expectations. Cirque du Soleil provides a first-class experience from start to finish; partnering with a first-class wine brand makes sense for both parties. We came away with even better feelings toward both Cirque du Soleil and Stags’ Leap Winery. Can’t wait for the circus (and the circus wine) be come back to town.

Wine Film Review: Eden (and its discontents)

March 11, 2025 By in popular culture, wine 1 Comment

Eden. Christopher McGilvray, director. Isiah Flores, cinematographer. View the trailer here.

Here’s the thing about wine. Geeky people like me spend a lot of time (and money) learning about it, thinking about it, talking about it, and even drinking it. But the point of wine isn’t wine. It is something more.

Sue and I are reminded of this every year when we host a group of friends for Open That Bottle Night. Everyone brings a bottle of wine, a story about the wine, and some food. We celebrate the wines and enjoy the food and stories, but we learned early on that the wines aren’t the point: It is the sharing that is the point and what we learn about ourselves and each other in the process.

This was especially obvious during the COVID pandemic when our celebration was shifted to Zoom. We were all a bit hesitant to log on because we couldn’t be together physically, eat the same foods, or taste the same wines. But, to our surprise, it was a remarkably satisfying experience because the power of sharing overwhelmed the physical barriers.

Some wine films disappoint because they don’t get past the first hurdle. They start and stop at wine. Sue and I joke about the many “four seasons in the vineyard” films we’ve seen. Beautiful. Empty.

Not (Just) Wine

But the best wine films understand. Take Sideways, for example. When Miles soliloquizes about wine — Pinot Noir, of course, and Merlot, too — he’s not really talking about wine. People, with their strengths and vulnerabilities, and relationships, good and bad. These are his concerns analyzed through the medium of fermented grape juice.

Eden, which premiered about this time last year. understands very well that wine is not just about wine. It began as a documentary about Mount Eden Vineyards, a historic winery high in the Santa Cruz Mountains overlooking Silicon Valley. The original idea was to film for a year and edit for a year, telling the story of the great wines and a unique winery. But then, gradually, I suspect, and then suddenly, the focus changed and it became about the people more than the wine. And because time changes things, the people began to change, too, and so the story evolved.

Seven-Year Itch

And so, the two-year project stretched to seven years. Seven years! As a result, a few times during the film it was difficult to figure out where in the chronology we were. The film is beautiful, of course, and it tells an engaging story. But it’s not (just) about the vineyards and the wines.

What is the story? The easy way to explain is that it is about the complexities and difficulties of generational transition. What happens when the generation that built a winery and created a legacy wants to pass it along to the next generation? This is an important problem in the world of wine because there are many wineries these days struggling to figure out the transition.

Sometimes, the older generation needs to hand off to the next but just can’t or won’t let go. In other cases, the younger generation has their own dreams to follow and is not interested in inherited legacies.

Not My Eden

You know the problem. It may be Eden to you, but it’s not my Eden. The fact that the wine business has hit a rough patch just now makes everything more complicated.

Eden thoughtfully probes the evolution of the behind-the-scenes family dynamics at Eden Mountain Vineyards, making it an unexpectedly personal and revealing film. Just as the story seems to be gliding toward a soft landing, a surprise twist shakes things up. The tensions are not resolved after all and we are left to wonder what we think we’ve learned and what we think we know. I won’t be a spoiler here. You’ll need to view the film (widely available on streaming services) to see what I mean.

Some wines are meant to be gulped down and others — I call them “philosophers’ wines” — invite contemplation or introspection. Eden is the wine film for you when you are willing to channel your inner philosopher.