Learn the art of wine indulgence from the Knicks legend Carmelo Anthony. Besides basketball, two of Melo’s greatest passions are wine and sneakers. His impressive collection of both sneakers and wines speaks to his refined taste. He even launched his own wine brand after gaining some knowledge in the craft just like his friend Dwyane Wade. On The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Carmelo went on to share a hilarious wine hack as well. Not the one you would expect.

After introducing the new wine creation from his brand, VII(N) The Seventh Estate, to the world, he joined in on the joke on how to taste wines. Melo popped the cork and quickly put it in his mouth, suggesting that is the right way to know a wine. “Super useful wine hack. A lot of people that I know like to sniff the cork. And I’d only tell you so much to really get you to know a wine. You got to eat the cork,” Melo said with a straight face on the show. 

While the audience wasn’t fooled, they enjoyed a good laugh for sure. Well, it’s the New York Knicks legend who’s having the last laugh now. Back in the 2000s, wine wasn’t particularly popular among NBA players, and anyone who didn’t fit in got teased for it. He was known as the wine guy and was often on the receiving end of some veterans’ jibe. 

“It was, you know, you were drinking other hard liquors. And I used to get laughed at and like, I don’t know what you’re doing, man. You’re drinking wine. You’re too young to know wine. Like, we don’t drink wine. We don’t drink wine. And now it goes from that,” Melo said.

However, he saw an opportunity to turn his passion into a business. And he went for it. Do you know what inspired him to take that leap?

Carmelo Anthony turned his loss into a profit-making business!

The former Denver Nuggets player had a passion for wine and he was certainly splurging on it. It took him some time to realize he was spending a fortune on his collection. Now a knowledgeable enthusiast, he thought, why not turn this passion into a business? So he did. He began his journey by studying it and then took the reins.

“I was looking at the bills so I was spending a lot of bread on wines and it became a crazy passion like but I also wanted to figure out like how can I enter this industry and make an impact in a crowded industry,” Melo said on Wine & Spirits Festival Preview.

Launched in 2022 in association with Asani Swann, he expanded his business by collaborating with Robert Mondavi Winery to introduce its second edition, the Ode to Soul.

Recently, he unveiled another intriguing wine, Oath of Fidelity, priced at $135. Crafted from premium grapes, Shiraz/Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre, it offers an enchanting tasting note. With this brand, he has placed himself in direct competition with his friend Dwyane Wade, who is seasoned in the industry with his own Wade Cellars.

While competition is inevitable, he has enough mentors to guide him in the wine market, which is most likely to reach a $500 billion valuation.