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 From Greens to Grapes
Thirsting for a new challenge, some of golf’s greats are chipping away at the world of wine. BY THOMAS BEDELL
The King, the Shark, the Big Easy, Nick, and Weirzy have all won at least one of golf’s major championships. David Frost has 10 PGA Tour wins and 12 international victories. If he hasn’t (yet) taken home a major trophy, credit Frost with beating Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo, and Mike Weir to the punch — or, more accurately, to the wine.
Each of these stars of the golfing culture has gone professional in the world of viticulture, some taking it far beyond mere branding, with the goal of reaching the top ranks of the oenological world, just as they have in the realms of golf.
It’s not an illogical step from the 18th hole to a pending rendezvous in a clubhouse dining room. Why not maintain the connection between golf, the land, and the bottle about to be uncorked tableside? The PGA Tour thinks it’s a fine idea, and has introduced its own line in three different flights (www.tour wines.com), from the Players Cellars to the Champions Select to the Commissioners Private Reserve — although PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem appears to be allowing the latter out for sale. Take a look at how six greats of the game have added “vintner” to their list of accomplishments.
At the grand opening of the Temenos Golf Club in Anguilla last November, the course designer and Hall of Fame golfer everyone recognizes as the Great White Shark, GREG NORMAN, let slip his youthful dreams: “My first ambition was to be a fighter pilot for the Australian Air Force.”
It often seems that Norman has done just about everything but; the range of his entrepreneurial endeavors often so jet fueled he almost makes businessman Arnold Palmer look like he’s standing still. Add vintner to the mix.
Though he has healed after back surgery in 2005, Norman has wound down his playing appearances in favor of his growing course design work. Plus, he confesses, “I don’t really want to practice.” The two-time British Open Championship winner totaled 91 worldwide victories and dominated the tour for the decade beginning in 1986, holding the world’s number one ranking for 331 weeks.
He was also the victim of some of the hardest luck losses in golf history, but he has suffered no such disappointment in his wine endeavors. Greg Norman Estates produces a variety of vintages from vineyards in both Australia (under winemaker Andrew Hales) and California (under winemaker Ron Schrieve); his cabernet merlot from Australia’s Limestone Coast frequently winds up on the Wine Spectator Top 100 list. www.shark.com/gnestates
 MIKE WEIR is the second-winningest Canadian in PGA Tour history with seven victories (George Knudson had eight, for those who must know), and the only one to win a major, the 2003 Masters.
With the Mike Weir Estate Winery, the popular lefty is proving himself a winner in another way. Fully 100 percent of the net proceeds of the winery sales are donated to the Mike Weir Foundation, established in 2004 to advance the physical, emotional, and educational welfare of children.
Weir’s partner in the winery, Peter Jensen (who with his wife, Laura, owns the Creekside Estate Winery in Ontario), says, “I get to work for free in this venture, and so does Mike. And every June we deliver a large check to the Foundation.”
Weir now lives in Utah, but Jensen says, “Mike was always passionate about wines. His family is from Toronto’s Niagara peninsula, so the fit was comfortable. He’s involved in the blending — he called the blend of the cabernet shiraz, and he’s involved in the design of the new winery, which will be open within a year.”
Current vintages include a cabernet merlot, a chardonnay, a sauvignon blanc, and the specialty of the area, the 2005 Vidal Icewine. www.weirwines.com
 DAVID FROST has perhaps the deepest roots in vineyard soil, having grown up on vineyards run by his grandfather and father in Stellenbosch, South Africa, and now owning a 300-acre vineyard in Paarl, the two regions being the country’s equivalent of Napa and Sonoma.
A South African now living in Dallas but playing primarily on the European Tour this year, Frost set the all-time PGA Tour record of a mere 92 putts in a 72-hole round at the MCI Heritage in 2005. He’s having a good year on the European circuit, but he probably will continue to work the next wine harvest, since he claims, “Golfing is my hobby and wine is my passion.” In truth, the two are inextricably linked, since he worked at the vineyard in his youth to afford his first set of clubs.
The 2007 vintage will be the 10th for Frost Wines, importing about 15,000 cases a year to the U.S. Current vintages are a 2002 cabernet sauvignon and a merlot, and a 2004 shiraz. Collectibles include the Legends series Frost made from 1998 to 2001 honoring golfing greats Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Gene Sarazen, and Jack Nicklaus, with label portraits painted by LeRoy Neiman. And the hard-to-find Par Excellence, a 2002 Meritage cab/merlot blend, nailed a 90-plus rating in Wine Spectator, the one place a pro golfer doesn’t mind shooting in the 90s. www.frostwine.com
 There’s no doubt that NICK FALDO wines will be served during at least one of the player dinners at the 2008 Ryder Cup in Valhalla, Kentucky: The six-time major winner (three British Open Championships, three Masters), is the captain for the European squad, and still its all-time points leader in 11 Cup appearances.
Of course, it’s reasonable to ask which Faldo shows up in his wines — the stolid, steely, uncommunicative but focused player who was arguably England’s and Europe’s best ever in his playing prime, or the chatty, witty, self-deprecating charmer now plying the trade of golf analyst for CBS Sports and The Golf Channel?
Clearly the calculating Faldo was at work in choosing a respected South Australian winery to produce his vintages, Katnook Estate in Coonawarra. But they aren’t wines that will wear you out (as Faldo famously did to win the 1996 Masters while Norman endured his infamous collapse).
Senior winemaker Wayne Stehbens has produced three wines for the Faldo Selection: a cabernet sauvignon, a shiraz, and a sauvignon blanc. They would seem to come from the latter-day Faldo — bright, forward, easy-going — with the grape characteristics well-defined. www.katnookestate.com.au/katnookestate/faldo.asp
 ARNOLD PALMER is such an iconic golfing legend (61 PGA Tour victories and seven major titles, including four Masters green jackets), that it’s sometimes easy to forget the enormous influence the King has had on American business and culture as it intersects with the world of sports. Palmer’s natural charisma powered golf’s emergence on television in the late 1950s and opened up the world of commercial opportunity for athletes — opportunities like producing wine, for example.
Palmer’s handshake deal with the late Mike McCormack in 1959 led to what became IMG, now the largest sports management firm in the world. So there’s no telling what might happen at Napa’s Luna Vineyards, which is producing the line of Arnold Palmer wines. Like his deal with McCormack, Palmer threw in with Luna’s founder Mike Moone (above left) because, he said, “Mike is a good friend and he’s going to produce a good product, because that’s what he does.”
With a little help from winemaker Mike Drash, Luna has released a 2003 cabernet sauvignon and 2003 and 2004 chardonnay. A 2004 Reserve Cabernet has received high marks and will quickly be scarce, since only 50 cases were produced.
Palmer, who lives part time in La Quinta, California, takes part in blending tastings at the vineyard to help determine the final character of the wines. www.arnold palmerwines.com
 ERNIE ELS has pleasing vineyard memories as well, since it was at a Stellenbosch wine estate that he had his first date with the woman who would become his wife, Liezl. And the introduction was arranged by Els’ current partner in the wine trade, Jean Engelbrecht (above left). The two men had long been friends, and with Engelbrecht having been born-and-bred in the business, they decided to collaborate. Engelbrecht Els Vineyards launched in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 1999.
Els, famous for launching golf balls tremendous distances with his admirably fluid swing (that, his 6-foot-3-inch height, and his ingratiating personality led to the nickname The Big Easy), has won 61 professional tournaments worldwide, including the 1994 and 1997 U.S. Opens and the 2002 British Open Championship. Still returning to top form after a serious knee injury in 2005, Els has been in the top 10 of the official world golf rankings longer than any other player.
Now his wines are also winning high rankings and a passel of awards. The flagship entry is the Bordeaux-style Ernie Els blend of cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc, merlot, malbec, and petit verdot grapes, under the aegis of winemaker Louis Strydom. There are three other lines to sample: the Engelbrecht Els blend, which adds shiraz to the mix; Cirrus (in cahoots with the Duncan family of Napa), and an early drinking line called Guardian Peak. www.ernieels.co.za
It may be that the good life of a professional golfer inevitably leads to a sturdy glass of good wine. Or it may be that the golfer’s eye, used to surveying the rolling mounds of golfing topography, finds a pleasing match in the symmetrical land forms of a vineyard. In any case, there’s no reason to suspect that there won’t be more linksmen turned vintners in the future.
Indeed, the rumor that Gary Player has been cellaring some South African blends for years, waiting for the right release time, is a rumor no more. The Black Knight, one of only five men to win golf’s coveted Grand Slam, is going to release the French oak-aged reds later this year.
And if Palmer and Player are producing wine, can Jack Nicklaus be far behind?
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