Star Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum used the NBA hiatus to put the finishing touches on his debut 2018 McCollum Heritage 91Pinot Noir. Word on the playground is McCollum’s wine is as smooth as his midrange jump shot.
Heritage 91 is a partnership between McCollum and Willamette Valley wine legend Adelsheim Vineyard in Newberg. The brand name is a combination of McCollum’s birth year, 1991, and a street he grew up on in Canton, Ohio: Heritage Avenue.
Heritage, however, is more than just a childhood street name to McCollum. “For me, understanding your heritage and wanting to leave a legacy was always important to me. So putting ‘heritage’ on the label brings everything full circle,” McCollum said in a telephone interview.
McCollum’s new wine combines pinot noir grapes from three of Adelsheim’s top estate vineyards: Boulder Bluff, Quarter Mile Lane and Bryan Creek. All three Low Input Viticulture & Enology certified vineyards are located in the Chehalem Mountains appellation.
The Heritage 91 Pinot Noir rested in French oak barrels, 26% of which were new, for 10 months before it was bottled last August. It clocks in at 13.5% alcohol by volume. Adelsheim Vineyard’s winemaker Gina Hennen says the wine possesses a “smooth sensibility,” which is also a fitting description of McCollum’s on-court style.
McCollum’s wine will sell for $50 when it goes on sale in September. So what exactly does McCollum look for when he spends $50 for an Oregon pinot noir?
“First off, it has to taste good, which is all relative,” he says. “For me personally, I like a smooth pinot noir with a lot of cherry fruit flavor. In the proper mood, I like a little earth and a little spice as well. You will get all that and more in my Heritage 91 Pinot Noir.”
Now that he has his own label, McCollum joins fellow NBA megastars like Steph Curry and Dwyane Wade in the wine game. Will good-natured wine rivalries emerge?
“I respect all those guys’ wines. D-Wade’s been very influential in this process, and I had a lot of questions for him. I haven’t tried the Curry family’s wines yet, but when Seth Curry played here, I told him to be sure to put a few bottles aside for me. I even told him I would pay for them,” McCollum said.
Beginning Sept. 15, the 2018 McCollum Heritage 91 Pinot Noir will be available for sale via the McCollum Heritage 91 website. Be prepared to act quickly as there are only 133 cases of this wine for the entire NBA-loving planet to share.
McCollum hopes to release more Heritage 91 wines in the future.
-- Michael Alberty writes about wine for The Oregonian/OregonLive. He can be reached at malberty0@gmail.com. To read more of his coverage, go to oregonlive.com/wine.
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June 27, 2020 at 12:20AM
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