Q&A: Tony Parker, NBA Star and Winemaker

Tony Parker, the six-time NBA All-Star who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023, started learning about wine when he was 17. “The parents of the girl I was dating were really into wine,” he says. “My family couldn’t afford big wines or restaurants, but I got to taste some good ones with them. That’s when I started to work on my palate.”

Raised in France, Parker was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in 2001, when he was 19. During nearly 20 years and four NBA Championships with the team, he grew close to coach Gregg Popovich, an icon of courtside intensity and after-hours hospitality whose wine-drenched team dinners are the stuff of NBA legend. In 2021, Parker invested in Champagne Jeeper, a 1949 estate, and Provençal winery Château La Mascaronne. We spoke with Parker about bringing French wine culture to early-aughts Texas, the proliferation of NBA wine enthusiasts, and which wine he always drinks on vacation.

Imbibe: How did wine become such a big part of your career?

Tony Parker: I grew up in France and wine is a culture here, everybody loves wine in France. … After I got drafted by the Spurs, I was finally financially in a place where I could afford some good wines. I would have dinners at my house and host the best [wine] châteaux for a super nice dinner. The next day, I would invite them to the Spurs game. I created great relationships with all those people.

“After I was done playing basketball, this was something I wanted to do: to invest in vineyards and try to see how it works in wine to do it full-time.”

In the summers I would go to see them and work on my allocations to make sure I could have all the great bottles. I created a great bond with my coach like that, too. Coach Popovich loves wine. When I first arrived [in San Antonio], I was on the plane with him, and he was reading wine magazines. I had no idea that he was such a huge fan of wine. He had almost 3,000 bottles in his collection. It was a great way for me to connect with him. He would come to my dinners at my house in San Antonio. And over the years we built a great relationship. That’s why I always knew that, after I was done playing basketball, this was something I wanted to do: to invest in vineyards and try to see how it works in wine to do it full-time.

Was it difficult to adapt not only to life in the NBA but also in San Antonio?

It felt just like home. It’s funny because I knew nothing about Texas. But the way that Coach Pop welcomed me, and the whole city and community—everyone just treated me like their son. They adopted me, and I loved it. Texas is just a way of life. We had an unbelievable run together, for 20 years with the Spurs.

It takes a lot of time for some of us to figure out our passions, but you’ve been into wine for decades. How have you seen the ways people think and talk about it change?

It takes time to work on your palate, but I always enjoyed wine. I was not a big fan of hard alcohol. I feel like when the NBA changed the dress code [in 2005], everyone started dressing super nice, and the cuisine got better and better in the U.S. Because when I first arrived in the U.S., in 2001, it was tough to find good restaurants in some of the cities. Over the years, all the chefs came and spread their knowledge. Now in the U.S. you can eat really well everywhere.

“Steph Curry, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo [Anthony] … post on social media when they’re drinking good bottles and good vintages …. seeing the NBA get involved like that is pretty cool.”

Take a simple example like cheese. When I first arrived in 2001, we ate pasteurized cheese in the U.S. You were not allowed to import the real ones, the ones that stink. Now you can have all the cheeses you want, they import everything. In California, the wine is so good now. You can do a road trip and you see vineyards everywhere, it’s a little bit like Bordeaux and Bourgogne in that way. It’s evolved very well.

With that, and with the dress code, I feel like the NBA guys started to enjoy wine. A lot of guys—Steph Curry, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo [Anthony]—all got their own vineyards, and now they’re proud to post on social media when they’re drinking good bottles and good vintages. That’s pretty cool for me. I grew up with that, and seeing the NBA get involved like that is pretty cool.

You and Coach Pop were on the forefront of what’s now this big wine-NBA crossover.

For sure. The Spurs, we were famous for our dinners. For every road trip, we’d do nice dinners with the whole team. And Pop would always look for the best restaurants and stuff like that. We were definitely the forerunners on that.

For me, when I was first studying wine, Mosel Riesling was a game-changer. I tasted it and thought, “Okay, it turns out I know nothing about wine, and I really want to.” Are there any regions or styles that were like that for you?

I love this question. For me, if I had to go to an island and I can only take a bottle from one region, it would be Bordeaux. I just love Bordeaux. I love old Bordeaux, the way they make it, the way they keep it. Bordeaux is my favorite. And the way it’s grown is incredible. If you look at the last 25 years, and the impact that Robert Parker had on that region, it just exploded around the world. But I also want to give some props to the U.S. and the way it’s evolved with wine—especially the Napa Valley region. You can drink some very good wines now in Napa Valley.

Rosé is another category that’s grown so much in recent years. What are some misconceptions people have about it?

With rosé, we are just at the beginning. Brad Pitt and Miraval did an unbelievable job back in 2005—that’s when I first tried Miraval, and I loved it. In the U.S., Château d’Esclans [of Whispering Angel] did a great job bringing so many people to rosé.

I always loved drinking rosé on vacation—that’s all I drink on vacation. But then I found out that you can drink rosé all year long. You have all the big houses with all their knowledge from red wine and white wine pouring their knowledge into rosé, and that can only make the rosé better.

“[Rosé is] something you can drink all year long, not just when you’re on vacation.”

A lot of people have the conception that you only drink the rosé from that year, so now you would drink the 2023 rosé. But I think now with all the knowledge, we can make unbelievable quality rosé that you can drink four or five years later. It’s still going to be good. I think that’s why so many big houses are making premium rosé. Like Miraval, or Château d’Esclans—when you see LVMH investing that much money to buy Château d’Esclans, you know that rosé and Provence is hot right now. We have Château La Mascaronne Grande Reserve as our premium rosé. It’s something you can drink all year long, not just when you’re on vacation.

If you were hosting one of those famous Spurs wine dinners now and pouring bottles from your wineries, what food would you serve?

I would start with foie gras and serve that with Tokaj [from Hungarian wine partner Tokaj-Hétszölö]. Then I’d go with some fish and open the white Mascaronne, and then some meat with the red. And I would finish with Champagne Jeeper. I love dessert, so maybe something with berries to go well with the Champagne. My favorite in our collection is the Blanc de Blancs. I love all Blanc de Blancs. Whenever I’m out, I find myself ordering the Blanc de Blancs of any brand. I just love the taste of it.