WineInk: A wine mentor retires

May is playoff month in the NBA.

And, as of this writing, your Denver Nuggets are playing in a scintillating semi-final round of the Western Conference playoffs versus the Oklahoma City Thunder. No doubt Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke (more on him below) will be sipping a glass of wine somewhere this evening as his Nuggets host the Thunder in Game 3 of their best-of-seven game series.

While there are ties between sports and wine across all the major leagues, the ever-evolving relationship between the NBA and the wine world stands out. There are a number of NBA players and ex-players who own wineries, and there is a cadre of current stars who are learned aficionados of wine. A social media post of LeBron James holding an open bottle of Opus One as he sat courtside last year at the Cavaliers-Celtics playoff game went viral and was a bigger story than the game. Professional basketball even has an official wine, as a partnership agreement last year made Kendall-Jackson Winery and La Crema, the official wines of the NBA and WNBA, respectively.

I thought about that relationship this past week when the iconic coach of the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich, announced he was stepping away from his coaching position and would transition to being the Spurs’ president full-time. Popovich is well known as an obsessed wine guy who often shared that passion, and his best wines, with his players at team dinners he hosted in a hospitable attempt to build camaraderie within the organization. 

It must have worked. “Pop,” as he is affectionately known, retired as the winningest coach in NBA history. In a record 29-season tenure with the Spurs, he claimed 1,422 wins and five NBA championships. He led the Spurs to a winning record in each of his first 22 full seasons as head coach, a streak that stands as the most consecutive winning seasons in NBA history.

Consistency is a hallmark of the coach who has Colorado ties.

Popovich began his basketball career at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs as a player and served five years in the military. In 1970, while he was stationed in Sunnyvale, California, not far from the Napa Valley, he began his wine journey, learning about California cabernets from the likes of Ridge, Mondavi, and Beaulieu, according to a May 2006 article about him that appeared in Wine Spectator. A stint in Germany introduced him to the pleasures of riesling, and by the time he began coaching the Spurs in 1996, he was a full-fledged collector and wine geek.

In that Spectator story, he talked of his 3,000-bottle collection of wine, so important to him that he built a separate building on his property to hold them. In an excerpt from the story, he explains, “A vintage in Bordeaux like 2000 or 1990 comes out, so you go get X number of cases, and you think, ‘How am I going to drink all this before I croak?'” says Popovich, then 57 (He is now 76). “Then you end up having nightmares that your kids are going (to inherit the wine), mix it with 7-Up, and make sangria.”

“Popovich, who favors well-aged wines,” the story continued, “estimates that nearly one-third of his 3,000-bottle collection won’t be ready to drink for years, if not decades. This includes his verticals of Ridge Monte Bello Santa Cruz Mountains 1994 to 1997, Peter Michael Les Pavots Knights Valley 1996 to 1999, and Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Toscana Masseto 1995 to 1999, as well as cases of Château Pétrus 2000 and imperials of Château d’Yquem 1990. Still, Popovich insists, ‘Whether it’s ready or not, the Yquem is going to get drunk (by me). Those bottles will not be passed on!'”

Then there is the article written in 2019 by ESPN’s Baxter Holmes about the dinners that he hosted for his players throughout his coaching career. According to Holmes, Popovich always knew the best restaurants in every NBA city and would often select wines for the meals from the wine lists in advance for the team dinners. He would helm the evening, and the players would come together to talk about family, travel, life, pretty much anything other than hoops. And they would drink and learn about the best wines from their coach and mentor.

Popovich will be missed on the sidelines, and he has left behind an indelible legacy as both an NBA coach and a mentor for great wine. But at least now, he will be able to open some of those gems he has been collecting over the decades.

If you’ve attended the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen in past years, you may have tasted wines produced by former and current NBA greats. Three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade (Wade Cellars), the New Orleans Pelicans guard and Oregon winemaker CJ McCollum (McCollum Heritage 91), and ex-Nugget Carmelo Anthony (Seventh Estate) have poured their wines at the Classic. And former NBA Champion Channing Frye has also brought his Chosen Family Wines to Aspen. He has called Popovich an “inspiration,” has said Popovich will be missed on the sidelines, and he has left behind an indelible legacy as both an NBA coach and a mentor for great wine. But at least now he will be able to open some of those gems he has been collecting over the decades.

Oh, and back to the Nuggets and wine. Stan Kroenke has a collection of wineries to rival his collection of teams. Which is saying something when you consider that in addition to the Nuggets, he counts the Colorado Avalanche, the Los Angeles Rams, and Arsenal amongst others as his teams. In the wine world, he is known for his wines, which include Napa’s Screaming Eagle (a wine on par with Nikola Jokić when it comes to MVP prestige), Jonata and The Hilt from the Central Coast of California, and the Burgundian Grand Cru Domaine Bonneau du Martray. It’s quite a starting lineup.

Enjoy the playoffs, and raise a glass to Coach Pop.