On a recent Wednesday afternoon, the singer and songwriter John Legend was at the Soho House in Malibu, California, his jean-jacketed back to the Pacific Ocean, his left hand around a glass of rosé that he helped create. He was ruminating about the global uptick in wine consumption — the millennial’s alcoholic beverage of choice, according to studies and articles galore.
“Wine has a kind of connection to luxury, and if you can make it in a price range that’s available to a lot of people, they want to access it,” said Legend, who is 39 (more of a Gen X-er).
John Legend, a singer and songwriter, with French winemaker Jean-Charles Boisset. Picture by John Francis Peters for The New York Times.
He paused to consider the salmon-colored varietal swishing around his glass, which was created with Jean-Charles Boisset, costs $25 per bottle and was made with grapes grown in the South of France, on a vineyard a few miles from the Mediterranean.
“It was a big coup for us to get the grapes that we got from that area,” Legend said.
The rosé is the fourth wine he and Boisset have produced together under the LVE label, which stands for Legend Vineyard Exclusive. (The name “was always kind of suggestive of love, even though it doesn’t spell it out explicitly,” said Legend, born John Stephens.) It is also far from the only famous person’s rosé on the market. Drew Barrymore has one. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (their split notwithstanding) too.
“Typically we say no to any celebrity client,” said Boisset, who wears his blond hair in suave waves and also dabbles in making jewelry. “Typically, they’re not as intensely into wine, not as dedicated to wine and winemaking.” Legend is a clear exception.