The recent news connecting alcoholic beverages, including wine, with certain negative health effects, coupled with an ongoing increase in the number of consumers opting for alcohol-free lives, has had an impact on category sales. Alcoholic beverages in the U.S. saw dollar sales decline 2.6% in the first half of this year compared to the first half of 2025, according to NielsenIQ, with an even bigger decline of 3.2% for wine.
But that doesn’t mean the pace of collaborations has slowed. Here are some of the pairings of licensed IPs and wine brands announced since the beginning of the year:
- Authentic Brands Group said this week that it was partnering with ZZ Wines on a range of reds and whites to mark the centennial of Marilyn Monroe’s birth. The wines in the Monroe Estates collection have labels featuring the late actress’s signature and red kiss logo. The first wines include a chardonnay, pinot noir, and red blend, with a rosé, Super Tuscan style, cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc, and prosecco-style sparkling coming in the future. The wines, all produced in Napa Valley, are available at retail and through a branded wine club.
- Richmond Football Club, a team competing in the Australian Football League, collaborated with Punt Road Wines on a special blend called The Home Ground, announced earlier this month. The first limited release consisted of 1,885 numbered bottles of 2025 cabernet shiraz (a popular blend in Australia), with additional wines to follow in a collector series. The two partners have roots on the same Melbourne street.
- Fashion label LoveShackFancy paired again with Santa Margherita Wines for an Italian rosé in collectible 1.5-liter magnum and 3-liter jeraboam bottles (the latter a first for Santa Margherita), in a partnership announced in June. The bottles were wrapped in specially designed LoveShackFancy floral prints. Promotion of the collaboration included a specially designed version of the Hamptons Ambassador luxury coach that runs between Manhattan and The Hamptons during the season. The two companies first got together last summer.
- Performance artist Marina Abramović announced her first wine collaboration, with Tuscan winemaker Ornellaia, in April. She is the latest artist to partner with Ornellaia in its annual Vendemmia d’Artista program. Each year, an artist creates a unique series of signed labels for a limited edition in a variety of bottle sizes, as well as an original artwork. The annual theme is derived from the characteristics of the vintage being spotlighted. Abramović worked with a 2023 vintage and a theme of “vitality.”
- Australian winery Penfolds recruited Troye Sivan, an Australian style icon, singer, and actor, for a limited-edition collaboration that debuted in March 2026 at Paris Fashion Week. The Penfolds Bin 389 cabernet shiraz came in two configurations: a 750-milliliter gift box with tissue featuring Sivan photographs or a 1.5-liter magnum co-created by Sivan. This is a multiyear deal with more releases to come. The winery has been part of other, similar initiatives, including with Japanese streetwear designer Nigo last year.
- Model and lifestyle influencer Ashley Graham released Lucci Lambrusco, a new red wine, in February. This product was not created through a licensing deal or collaboration; rather, Graham co-founded it with a fifth-generation winemaker in the Emilia-Romagna region, where lambrusco originates. The brand does not carry the model’s name, but she is promoted as the co-founder and is featured prominently in the marketing.
As these examples suggest, the landscape for wine collaborations not only is holding its own amid industry headwinds, but it remains diverse in the properties involved, the types and geographic origin of the wines featured, and the forms of partnership used.
Comments are closed.