Wine and Basketball

Hi Wine Friends,

How are we liking this sunshine? In case you’re wondering - I brought it home with me from Greece (yes, I was tracking Portland’s weather from the islands and, yes, the hot weather returned to PDX the same day as I did). So, you’re welcome 😉

I hope you’ve put on some shorts, dusted off the patio furniture and cracked open a bottle of rosé. Or a crisp Spanish Albarino. Or a chilled Beaujolais. Or - well, you get the idea. Lots of options and I, for one, am very excited for summer wine season. 

Yes, wine in winter keeps some warm, but we generally tend to reach for fuller bodied reds, since those just pair well with heartier dishes. And who wants to drink ice cold wine when it’s freezing outside, anyway?

But when the warm weather returns, the options are endless. Sure, we can still drink reds. But maybe those reds will be on the lighter-bodied end of the spectrum or even served chilled. I love a chilled red with a summer salad; it’s a great example of breaking the rules when it comes to traditional wine and food pairing!

But before we dive too deep down the summer wormhole, there’s something special to celebrate tomorrow and that is: Father’s Day. (If you follow me on social, you’ll know we’re doing a whole sketch series on Wine Dads to compliment the equally silly one we did last month on Wine Moms).

So I thought I’d use today’s newsletter to talk about a conversation I had with one of the most badass wine dads around: NBA Championship player - turned - wine visionary Channing Frye.

Wine and Basketball

Now, I have to admit, I don’t really follow basketball and didn’t know who Channing was two years ago, so when I heard that yet another ‘celebrity wine brand’ had popped up, I didn’t think much of it. What I did know is that wine has gotten very big in the NBA of late. In fact, I had followed its meteoric rise in popularity with interest, because the two cultures - wine and basketball - seem so disparate.

This Wine Enthusiast story does a great job of giving background but, essentially, it all started with Spurs coach Greg Popovich, who is a huge wine collector and has a longstanding tradition of weekly team dinners involving great food, warm hospitality and excellent wine. Pretty soon, major players like LeBron James and Chris Paul were collecting and publicly talking about how much they love wine and, now, over 10 players have started their own brands: Carmelo Anthony, CJ McCollum, Dwayne Wade and even Popovich himself, just to name a few. And now: Channing Frye.

The Wine Team

Channing’s love affair started in 2007 when playing for the Portland Blazers and was introduced to Oregon wine. When he was traded to the Cavaliers in 2016 to join LeBron James and what would be the NBA Championship team, his wine game reached new heights. This iconic team was lovingly dubbed the ‘Wine Team,’ since wine was an integral part of their culture and was avidly collected and enjoyed together. 

When I sat down with Channing, he articulated the same feelings that have always pulled me to wine: the notion that wine is more than just a beverage - it’s a means of connecting and creating memories with those you love. When you share a glass with someone (partner, coworker, NBA teammate), it brings you together in a shared experience, and also starts a conversation. Channing remembers talking to more experienced drinkers around the team table and hearing about wine regions they’d visited, the adventures they’d had on those trips and the legends behind those wines. It not only brought him closer to his team in the present - it inspired him to look beyond life on the court and into his future.

So when retirement from active play loomed, Channing did what every retiring pro athlete does… moved his family to Oregon and started an epic wine brand 🙂

Channing with Chosen Family partners Kevin Love, Jacob Gray and Chase Renton

The Chosen Family Ethos 

Chosen Family Wines produces a beautiful lineup of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Rosé and Reserve Cuvées, but they also collaborate with talented producers up and down the West Coast. Channing is active not only in the production of Chosen’s estate wines; he’s also very involved in the collaborations: Eola-Amity Chardonnay from Lingua Franca, Dundee Hills Pinot Noir from L’Angolo, Walla Walla Syrah from Hazelfern and Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from Salty Goats (just to name a few!).

 Channing has more collaborations in the works and one of my favorite things about this model is that you can go to one tasting room and taste wines from Oregon, Washington and California!

Speaking of tasting rooms, you have to go check out their new spot The Roadhouse. Inspired by one of Channing’s favorite cult films (yes, that one - the original not the remake), The Roadhouse is not your average wine tasting room. A cozy house perched on the side of the Willamette River with dock for riverside sipping, a wrap-around porch, great music and charcuterie-by-request, The Roadhouse is all fun and no pretense.

 And it’s unrelated to wine but one of the things I loved most about my visit was that all four of Channing’s kids were there - hanging out and clearly an integral part of the Chosen Family. The place is just so refreshingly chill and unwine-like. (Can I say that?) It’s like hanging out at your buddy’s house - the really cool one who is warm, funny, has a Championship ring, brings DJ’s to spin on weekends, oh, and makes killer wine.

 Enjoy our full conversation here and then become part of the Chosen Family yourself by taking your dad to The Roadhouse for a day he’ll always remember.

Cheers and Happy Dad’s Day,

Kelsey