Celebrities Who Own Wineries — John Legend

Quick Guide — John Legend’s LVE Wine

• Brand: LVE (Legend Vineyard Exclusives), launched 2013 in partnership with Jean-Charles Boisset of Raymond Vineyards, Napa Valley
• Wines: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Red Blend, Côtes de Provence Rosé, and an LVE Sparkling Rosé made in France
• Price range: Roughly $25–$85 per bottle, with a wine club offering a 20% discount
• The story behind it: A rosé discovered by John Legend and Chrissy Teigen on holiday in the South of France, eventually bottled under their own label
• Fun fact: Every LVE wine gets tested on Chrissy Teigen before release — by Legend’s own account, songs are harder for her to approve than wine

---

Okay, I need to tell you about something I found out this week, because I genuinely did not see it coming.

Imagine winning an Emmy. Then a Grammy. Then an Oscar. Then a Tony. The full set. Something like fifteen people on the entire planet have ever managed that.

Most people would frame the four certificates, take an extremely long holiday, and spend the rest of their natural life quietly reminding every dinner party they’re an EGOT winner. Totally reasonable. Nobody would blame them.

John Legend looked at his and apparently thought: right, this collection is missing a winery.

Does John Legend actually own a winery, I hear you ask? Sort of — and the actual story behind it is so much better than “celebrity slaps name on bottle” that I need to walk you through the whole thing properly.

---

How Did John Legend Start His Wine Brand LVE?

Here’s the bit I wasn’t expecting. Legend didn’t back into this through a marketing meeting or someone’s smart investment tip, the way a few names in this series clearly did. He’d genuinely been into wine for years already — the travel, the slow education, the kind of interest that turns a casual drinker into someone who actually minds what’s in the glass.

In 2013, he reached out to Jean-Charles Boisset, the Napa Valley vintner behind Raymond Vineyards, and asked to make a Cabernet Sauvignon. Not license his name. Actually make one, properly, with someone who knew what they were doing. That first wine became LVE — Legend Vineyard Exclusives — and a Chardonnay followed the year after.

Now this is the part that made me sit up. Wine Enthusiast gave the project their first-ever Wine and Culture Wine Star Award. That’s not a “nice try, celebrity” pat on the head. That’s the wine world actually paying attention.

The lineup grew from there. A Napa Cabernet. A Carneros Chardonnay. A Red Blend built from Petite Sirah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Bottles generally land somewhere between $25 and $85, and there’s a wine club if you want a 20% discount and four deliveries a year. This is not a vanity label phoning it in from a distance. Somebody is genuinely paying attention to what’s in these bottles.

---

Why Did John Legend Make a Rosé?

Okay, this is my favourite part of the entire story, and I’ll admit it upfront: it’s disgustingly romantic in the most sincere way possible.

Legend and Chrissy Teigen started spending more time in the South of France. And somewhere in among all that sunshine and long, unhurried lunches, rosé became their wine. Not a trend they clocked and jumped on. Just what they kept finding themselves drinking, over and over, until it followed them home to LA and simply refused to leave.

Eventually that turned into LVE’s own Côtes de Provence Rosé. Then — because apparently one rosé wasn’t quite enough — an LVE Sparkling Rosé made in France a few years later. The first vintage of the still rosé sold out at 500 cases almost immediately. Not long after that, Legend was talking about pushing toward 8,000 cases the following year, which is the moment a celebrity hobby quietly turns into an actual business.

I don’t know what it says about me that a couple falling in love with one specific wine on holiday, and then building an entire brand around chasing that exact feeling, is the detail that gets me every single time in this series. Probably nothing flattering. I stand by it anyway.

---

Does Chrissy Teigen Help Choose John Legend’s Wines?

Yes. And honestly? This is the moment I stopped reading about a celebrity winery and started actually liking John Legend.

Every single LVE wine gets tested on Chrissy before it’s allowed to exist. Legend has said outright that a lot of his decisions come down to one question: will Chrissy like it. He tries new songs on her too, apparently — and here’s the bit that made me laugh out loud at my desk — songs are harder for her to approve of than wine. Imagine developing a wine for months, getting your whole team to agree it’s excellent, handing it to your wife for the final word, and songs still being the tougher audience.

Make of that what you will about which one of them takes their actual day job more seriously.

Their home life leans into this too. Chrissy is a genuine home cook and cookbook author, and Legend has talked fondly about her French onion soup and braised short rib landing on regular rotation at home. He does the mac and cheese himself, apparently insists the garlic matters enormously, and reaches for a rosé alongside it. Either a slightly unconventional pairing, or exactly the kind of relaxed, unbothered wine choice this whole series keeps circling back to.

Asked once what the most expensive bottle he’d ever personally bought was, Legend flatly refused to say the number out loud. I respect a man who knows precisely which things not to admit to on the record.

---

What Was the LG SIGNATURE Collaboration With John Legend?

By 2022, LVE had reached the point where a luxury electronics brand wanted a piece of it.

LG SIGNATURE partnered with Legend on a strictly limited 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon — just 300 bottles total, unveiled at a private Napa Valley event held at Wappo Hill, Boisset’s own home, with most of the run reserved for LG’s VIP clientele and only a handful available to anyone lucky enough to be there on the night.

Three hundred bottles is not a mass-market play, and it was never meant to be. That’s the number a luxury brand chases specifically because it wants to borrow a little of somebody else’s prestige rather than actually sell many bottles. By this point, Legend had officially become a name serious enough for other serious brands to want their logo sitting next to his.

---

The Bottom Line

Sting bought a Tuscan estate because he genuinely fell for the region. Bocelli was born into a wine dynasty two centuries deep. Jay-Z turned a public snub into a $600 million Champagne empire out of pure, calculated spite. Drew Barrymore just really liked Pinot Grigio and decided that was reason enough.

John Legend’s story sits somewhere warmer than all of them, if you ask me. A genuine wine habit that predated the fame having anywhere useful to go. A rosé discovered on holiday with the woman he’d go on to marry, followed home, and eventually bottled because neither of them could quite let it go. A wife who tests everything — songs and wine alike — before it’s allowed out into the world, and somehow finds the wine the easier one to approve.

Of all the wine stories in this series, this might be the one that sounds the most like an actual marriage. Just, in this particular case, one that occasionally comes with a really good Cabernet attached.

---

Frequently Asked Questions — John Legend’s LVE Wine

What is John Legend’s wine brand called? LVE, short for Legend Vineyard Exclusives, produced in partnership with Jean-Charles Boisset of Raymond Vineyards in Napa Valley.

How much does LVE wine cost? LVE bottles generally range from around $25 to $85, depending on the wine, with a wine club option offering a 20% discount on regular deliveries.

Does Chrissy Teigen have input on John Legend’s wines? Yes. Legend has said every LVE wine is effectively tested on Chrissy Teigen before release, and that many of his decisions come down to whether she approves.

What wines does LVE make? The core range includes a Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, a Carneros Chardonnay, a Red Blend, a Côtes de Provence Rosé, and an LVE Sparkling Rosé produced in France.

Is John Legend’s wine brand still active? Yes, LVE continues to release new wines and products, including recent additions like a canned French rosé, and remains an active partnership with Raymond Vineyards.

---

Catch up on the rest of the series: Jay-Z’s Champagne empire, Andrea Bocelli’s 200-year-old Tuscan winery, Drew Barrymore’s Barrymore Wines, and the ongoing courtroom drama at Brad and Angelina’s Château Miraval. Subscribe to the newsletter so you never miss who’s next.

— Kelly 🍷

#JohnLegend #ChrissyTeigen #LVEWine #CelebritiesWhoOwnWineries #WineAndPeople #CelebrityWine