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Cincinnati Reds stars release wines under their own labels for charity
No, these are not baseball cards — they’re wine labels!
These wines bring a whole new meaning to the phrase “Cincinnati Reds.”
Actually, they’re California reds (and a white), and they’re being released this spring by current, future and past Reds stars Ken Griffey Jr., Homer Bailey and Barry Larkin, through a Boston-based company called Charity Hop Sports Consulting, the company announced this morning.
The players themselves “do not profit a single dime,” according to the company’s press release. Instead, “100 percent of the proceeds” go to charities. Griffey’s “Junior Cabernet,” for example, benefits the Ken Griffey Jr. Family Foundation, a fund that supports several causes, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Seattle Children’s Hospital and Florida Hospital Children’s Hospital; the “Homer Chardonnay” benefits Outdoors Without Limits, an outdoor recreational activities outreach program for people with disabilities; and the “B-Lark Merlot” benefits the Champions Sports Foundation.
The wines are produced by winemaker Susie Selby of Selby Winery in Healdsburg, California and will retail for about $13, the company says.
Griffey will also release a “600 Home Run Club” vintage, which is described as a premium Napa cabernet with production limited to 600 bottles (price has yet to be determined, but it’s a safe bet it won’t be $13 a bottle … ). The wine’s release will be timed to coincide with Griffey reaching that milestone. He will start the season with 593 career homers, alone in sixth place on the all-time home run list.
Of course, it’s not all about the Reds: The Charity Hop web site lists other charity wine baseball stars from the Yankees, Red Sox and elsewhere — with the inevitable headline, “Stars Go to Bat for Local Charities.”
The company says wine retailers will have an opportunity to pre-order the wines this month, and the wines should be available to consumers throughout Ohio and Kentucky in late May.
Right about the time the Reds will move into first place — right? (By the way, if you’re a Reds fan or know one, make sure they’re checking out The Real McCoy, Hal McCoy’s blog on the Reds …)
Cheers, and of course, go Redlegs!
Mark Fisher
Comments
By artiste29
April 1, 2008 3:04 PM | Link to this
I bet Jungle Jim’s could get them in - I have requested wines that they didn’t carry, and so far, they have gotten every request I have made!By Cindy
March 27, 2008 4:25 PM | Link to this
So I went to the site and you can’t have them shipped to Ohio. Are they going to be sold locally?