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"  Along the same lines as developing a &amp;quot;lifestyle brand,&amp;quot; celebrity vineyards are a bit of a trend. Everyone from Drew Barrymore to Dave Matthews has dabbled in producing self-named wines, and they&amp;#039;re not kidding around\u2014in fact, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie&amp;#039;s ros\u00E9 was declared best in the world in 2012 by Wine Spectator.  Curious to know what the fuss was all about, we decided to call in an array of celeb-backed bottles for a master tasting. (Disclaimer: We could only obtain a limited selection, since many bottles are currently unavailable.) Of course, we&amp;#039;re no experts (to say the least), so we enlisted the help of sommelier Michelle Biscieglia of NYC restaurant Blue Hill to guide us in our tasting. See our commentary as we sipped and smelled these &amp;quot;famous&amp;quot; vines.  Ramona Singer Pinot Grigio Veneto, Italy Associated celebrity: Ramona Singer, New York Real Housewife and notorious Pinot Grigio connoisseur.  &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s Turtle Time!&amp;quot; someone cried, and we knew our first Ramona moment had arrived. It was only fitting that the first of Ramona&amp;#039;s wines we would try was Pinot Grigio, the housewife&amp;#039;s drink of choice. Unfortunately, we didn&amp;#039;t have much time to chill our wines before the tasting, but Michelle assured us that it actually doesn&amp;#039;t hurt when we&amp;#039;re reviewing. &amp;quot;When they&amp;#039;re warm, they&amp;#039;re easier to hate\u2014the cold hides the flaws.&amp;quot; (&amp;quot;Could you say this is true for the housewife herself?&amp;quot; someone retorted.) Most of us didn&amp;#039;t mind this wine, but the general consensus was that it was &amp;quot;easy,&amp;quot; with a &amp;quot;sour aftertaste.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s pretty light, fresh, and a bit watery,&amp;quot; one editor volunteered. &amp;quot;A bit abrasive,&amp;quot; disagreed another. (Are we referring to the wine, or Ramona? we all wondered.) Editor&amp;#039;s note: There are not enough Ramona Singer GIFs in the world, and I wish we could include every single one of them in this post.  AC/DC &amp;quot;Hell&amp;#039;s Bells&amp;quot; Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand, 2011 Associated celebrity: AC/DC. According to Michelle, New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs tend to be a bit polarizing. &amp;quot;&amp;#039;Stinky&amp;#039; is a perfect description,&amp;quot; she informed us. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s heavy\u2014it sits in your mouth. But some people really love it.&amp;quot; Generally, while we all agreed that the aroma was quite palpable, most of us weren&amp;#039;t big fans (though, as with brussels sprouts, we can appreciate those who have the palate for it). One editor called identified the mouthfeel as &amp;quot;greasy,&amp;quot; while another identified a note of &amp;quot;cat pee.&amp;quot;  Dreaming Tree &amp;quot;Everyday&amp;quot; White Blend Central Coast, USA Associated celebrity: Dave Matthews.      In between much reminiscing about our individual Dave Matthews Band fangirl histories, we all actually enjoyed this wine\u2014from first sniff. &amp;quot;This one is floral,&amp;quot; advised Michelle. &amp;quot;There might be a viognier grape in there. It feels heavy when you first drink it, but then it makes you salivate at the end. That&amp;#039;s the acidity.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;It smells like perfume. Flowery,&amp;quot; agreed one editor. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s what I imagine Dave himself smells like.&amp;quot; (The room collectively disagreed with this statement.) &amp;quot;I like it a lot!&amp;quot; someone contended, while yet another declared it &amp;quot;the best one I&amp;#039;ve had.&amp;quot; Would we drink it &amp;quot;everyday?&amp;quot; I mean, sure?  Save Me San Francisco &amp;quot;Calling All Angels&amp;quot; Chardonnay California, 2011 Associated celebrity: Train. (Yes, the band.)      It may not have had the polarizing quality of that AC/DC Sauvignon, but this chardonnay was similarly powerful in scent. &amp;quot;That is American Oak you&amp;#039;re smelling,&amp;quot; offered Michelle. &amp;quot;Cinnamon, spice, vanilla, and butter.&amp;quot; This dessert-like combo might be overpowering for some, but one editor decided that &amp;quot;it tasted better than it smells.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;I feel like my mom would like this,&amp;quot; said another, a statement later clarified not as an insult, but as a testament to her mother&amp;#039;s penchant for sweet California chardonnays. Another disagreed: &amp;quot;This is everything I hate about Chardonnay. It&amp;#039;s boring, buttery, and oaky, and I&amp;#039;m just not interested in it.&amp;quot; To each her own.  AC/DC &amp;quot;Thunderstruck&amp;quot; Chardonnay Australia, 2011 Associated celebrity: AC/DC The consensus on AC/DC&amp;#039;s second offering was that it was far more palatable than the first\u2014and a bit subtler than the previous chardonnay we tried. &amp;quot;This is a little less spicy, a little less woody, and not too in-your-face,&amp;quot; said Michelle. (&amp;quot;This one smells less offensive to me,&amp;quot; someone agreed.) One editor called it &amp;quot;grape-y;&amp;quot; another, &amp;quot;watery.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;It tastes like chardonnay,&amp;quot; was one very unhelpful opinion.  Ciccone Michigan Riesling Michigan, 2011 Associated celebrity: Madonna, or really, her parents, Silvio and Joan, who are the actual owners of the Michigan vineyard. &amp;quot;This smells nothing like Riesling,&amp;quot; said Michelle upon opening the bottle. &amp;quot;Doesn&amp;#039;t it smell like Lucky Charms?&amp;quot; The wine, which we were previously informed was a &amp;quot;semi-sweet&amp;quot; Michigan Riesling &amp;quot;great for summer,&amp;quot; was certainly heavy on the &amp;quot;sweet&amp;quot;\u2026and a bit fruity. (&amp;quot;Pineapple-y,&amp;quot; noted one taster.) Like the AC/DC Sauvignon Blanc, this might do better for a very specific palate. &amp;quot;It reminds me of vodka gummy bears,&amp;quot; said one editor. &amp;quot;I made some when I went to the adult screening of Frozen.  Ramona Sangiovese Merlot Tuscany, Italy Associated celebrity: Ramona Singer. While Michelle suspected that this particular bottle might be a bit oxidized, there were some appealing notes in addition to the, well, oxidation. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m getting hints of chocolate and blueberry,&amp;quot; she said. &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s something minty, too,&amp;quot; offered another taster. One naysayer contended that &amp;quot;the taste just dies the second you drink it.&amp;quot; But another declared, &amp;quot;Ramona is greater than Madonna.&amp;quot; In wine? GIF-ability? Life?  Ciccone Cabernet Franc Michigan, 2011 Associated celebrity: Madonna (&amp;#039;s parents). &amp;quot;The most notable thing [about Cabernet Franc] is that it smells like green peppers,&amp;quot; advised Michelle, and that it did\u2014to no detriment. &amp;quot;It smells better,&amp;quot; a few voices agreed. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not bad!&amp;quot; admitted one editor.  Dreaming Tree &amp;quot;Crush&amp;quot; Red Blend North Coast, California Associated celebrity: Dave Matthews.      Score two for Dave Matthews\u2014this one was also a keeper. This red is a blend, but Michelle noted that &amp;quot;there&amp;#039;s definitely Cabernet Sauvignon in there.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;This one already tastes better just from spilling it on my hand,&amp;quot; said one staffer. &amp;quot;I like it, and I normally despise red wine,&amp;quot; said another surprised taster. &amp;quot;Nice and fruity,&amp;quot; said yet another, while one editor opined, &amp;quot;I like it. It&amp;#039;s very simple. You can open a bottle of that and not think about it very hard.&amp;quot; Good thing too, because your mind is probably all cloudy from Dave&amp;#039;s sensual scatting and thoughts of your crush, obvi.  Save Me San Francisco &amp;quot;Drops of Jupiter&amp;quot; Red Blend California Associated celebrity: Train.      After queuing up the theme song of most early millennium nuptials, the nostalgia got to one editor before even giving the wine a whiff, as she declared it &amp;quot;the one I&amp;#039;m most excited about.&amp;quot; Upon opening the bottle, Michelle labeled it &amp;quot;big, heavy, oaky, and licorice-y.&amp;quot; One editor detected notes of grapefruit, while another thought it &amp;quot;too bitter.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s just\u2026boring,&amp;quot; said someone else, but probably because she was totally caught up in the memory of slow dancing to &amp;quot;Drops of Jupiter&amp;quot; at prom. THE BIG WINNERS When all was said and done, it was a split between the two wines from Dave Matthews&amp;#039; Dreaming Tree Vineyard. AC/DC&amp;#039;s chardonnay was also a contender, but we\u2014and even Michelle, who has certainly had her fair share of the world&amp;#039;s finest\u2014were quite impressed with Dave&amp;#039;s offerings. It turns out they also tick off the sustainability factor, too\u2014each bottle is 50% lighter than average, with an eco-friendly cork. Plus, the corks are stamped with lyrics for your reading\u2014or (sing-along, if you&amp;#039;ve had enough) pleasure. All in all, a tasty win-win-win. But if you&amp;#039;re feeling bold, campy, or curious\u2014or all of the above\u2014any of the reviewed wines would do the trick, even if some are better than others. And at the end of the day, this little piece of celebrity lifestyle is far more enjoyable than, say, a Gwyneth-recommended juice cleanse. (But we love you, Gwyneth. We do.) "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a25726/celebrity-wine-tasting/>