Fast Company reports that Major League Baseball has been helping a number of teams in their efforts to get into the wine business. The reason? They really would like to make team-branded beer, but since Budweiser won’t let them, they’ve gone with wine. We guess necessity is the mother of invention when it comes to these baseball branded bottles of booze. While teams like the Yankees the Mariners and the Giants have some unique local wines, it seems that a number of teams are simply slapping their own labels on collectively sourced wine:
- The New York Yankees: A Russian River Valley Chardonnay, a Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon, and a (local) Finger Lakes Dry Riesling.
- The Boston Red Sox: An Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, and a Sparkling Wine to celebrate their 2013 World Series win.
- The Philadelphia Phillies: A Central Coast ‘Proprietary Red’ Blend and a Central Coast Chardonnay.
- The Seattle Mariners: Local Columbia Valley White & Red Blends.
- The Chicago Cubs: A Central Coast ‘Proprietary Red’ Blend and a Central Coast Chardonnay.
- The Texas Rangers: A Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sonoma Country Chardonnay.
- The San Francisco Giants: Two Mumm Napa Sparkling Wines, one of which is branded to celebrate their 2012 World Series win.
Regarding the sourcing of the wine, Fast Company asks “Were you expecting a locally produced chardonnay from Dallas?” From the city of Dallas, no…but finding a Chardonnay — as well as other quality wines from Texas — is quite doable! Head over to Wine-Searcher to learn about Texas wines and browse through a long list.
