Jon Bon Jovi Is Trying to Change the Wine World

This is not a vanity project, Jon Bon Jovi tells me almost as soon as we sit down to taste his new ros wine Diving into Hampton Water, which he created with his son Jesse Bongiovi and French winemaker Grard Bertrand.

In fact, his world-famous name isnt even featured anywhere on the bottles front or back labels. When I bring that fact to his attention, hes quick to brush away my concern. Youll know that Im involved just as Jesse and Grard are involved. But theres no need to whore out the Bon Jovi name, he says. We wont be doing Bed of Roses Ros. Believe me that conversation has happened at some point in the world. I would never do something like that.

Unlike many other celebrity liquor ventures, Bon Jovi seems to take real joy in the winemaking process and working with his partners, especially his son. We all committed to this like its my only job, he says. Although, I have another job that I have to deal with

Later that night at a launch party for the wine, which took place at Gianni Versaces former home in Miami, Bon Jovi spoke passionately to the crowd gathered to hear him play an acoustic set about working with his son. It was Jesse, who recently graduated from Notre Dame, that actually came up with the idea for the wine brand about two years ago.

The family was connected with Bertrand whose wines they had enjoyed. Bon Jovi, in fact, only drinks wine. Thats my drink of choice, he says. I dont drink hard alcohol. Red, whites and ros are all I ever drink. (Although, for the record, he doesnt drink wine before performing. How about afterwards? Ill be standing next to the bottle, he jokes.)

Bertrand hosted Bon Jovi and his sonin France and helped them come up with the right blend of varietals. While there are certainly a number of ways to make cheap ros, Diving into Hampton Water, is made with an expensive blend of grenache, cinsault, mourvdre and syrah grapes. To round out the wine and to give it a long finish it was also aged in French oak barrels. We didnt make a ros to make another ros, says Bertrand. We have created a super-premium ros. The name he says tries to tie together the posh lifestyles of the Hamptons and the South of France. The wine, which has been selling very quickly, goes for around $25 a bottle.

$25 for a bottle of ros is a good price because we need to see people enjoy it and we also need to over deliver, which is important, says Bertrand. Because when you deliver more than the price you make people happy. I dont think that will be hard given that the wine is refreshing but has real depth and complexity with a long finish.

In fact, some of the stores around New York City have been selling out their supply. Is it the familys name driving the popularity? I dont think it was the fan base, says Bon Jovi. This wasnt online. This is Jesse walking into the Plaza Hotel and the Four Seasons with Grards sales team. These are guys that would have certainly, I think, thrown him out on his ass if wed gone in there with some schlocky wine.

The brand is also designed to draw in people who might not be traditional wine drinkers. In fact, they started with producing ros, since its a lot more relatable, says Jesse. Its a lot easier to pick up and enjoy. Thats what makes it so much more attractive to this new audience. The bottle, of course, has an Instagrammable label of a woman diving into a sea of ros and a fancy glass stopper.

When Grard first proposed the glass top, remebers Bon Jovi, he said its for when you dont finish the bottle. You can put the glass top back on. I said who does that? Theres never anything left. Who the hell puts the top back on?

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Jon Bon Jovi Is Trying to Change the Wine World was originally posted by 31 T4T FanZone