US basketball star Tony Parker teams up with Provencal and Champagne entrepreneur

Former pro basketball star Tony Parker has joined forces with French entrepreneur Michel Reybier as a partner of Château La Mascaronne in Provence, which Reybier acquired in 2020, and his Champagne brand, Champagne Jeeper.

Reybier who also owns Bordeaux estate Cos d’Estournel since 2000 and Hungarian wine estate Hétszolo Estate in Hungary, bought the 60ha organic estate in Provence in 2020 for an undisclosed sum. It was previously rescued from oblivion and restored by American Tom Bove, who also restored Chateau Miraval prior to its acquisition by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

A spokesman said that Parker, who won the four NBA Championships four time when he played for the San Antonio Spurs, had been a wine aficionado for some time, but felt it wasn’t enough to love wine and experience it by tasting, he wanted to learn more about the viniculture and viticulture.

“Part of the decision to work together with Michel Reybier is for him to gain knowledge from the visionary entrepreneur, who has more than 30 years of experience developing successful companies and projects,” a spokesman said.

The partnership will therefore allow him to see wine from “a 360-degree perspective”, from the pruning of the vines to harvest, blending and bottling.

Reybier said the joint commitment would allow the duo to go further in the wineries’ development in international markets. “The quality of our products, combined with Tony’s renowned reputation worldwide, will open up new perspectives for Château La Mascaronne and our champagnes,” he said.

This will allow the team to leverage Parker’s platform to boost the brand’s export sales in the US.

“With the help of his global network, Parker will be hands-on to help shine a larger light on these wines and grow sales in international markets, particularly in the US, to help them gain more notoriety through a distribution market that includes a variety of different consumers from his fanbase,” she said.