For all I know, the Vikings may actually have a formal wine club (the NFL is always interested in leveraging their league and team branding for additional revenues), but this wine club is an informal group of cornerbacks and safeties:
The Minnesota Vikings, currently leading the pack for an NFC wild card playoff spot, have a top-10 pass defense that is built on tight cornerback coverage and an aggressive pass rush. And red wine.
In a move that is part health fad, part bonding exercise, the Vikings defensive backs have started dabbling as wine connoisseurs, with some believing that it may even be helping their bodies. “Whatever [you’re] doing, drink some red wine and you’ll do better,” said cornerback Captain Munnerlyn.
The Vikings’ taste for wine is the product of 37-year-old defensive back Terence Newman, who previously starred for the Cowboys and Bengals. Newman began exploring wine earlier in his career and has since emerged as the NFL’s answer to Robert Parker.
Newman began drinking Merlot four years ago, but found it too bitter and dry, he said, so he quickly dropped the habit. He later got into bolder Cabernets, which were more his style, he said. “I was married to Cabs for a while,” Newman said. “But then I had some Pinot Noir, and that’s when I said: ‘Wow, this is where I’m going to settle down.”
Over the years, Newman’s interest in wine has grown more and more serious. He orders cases of DuMol Pinot Noir and samples organic wines from Oregon. Before last season, he took a tour of the Pride Mountain winery in the Napa Valley. But this season, his appreciation for fine wine finally began to trickle down to his teammates.
Early in the season, Newman made a tongue-in-cheek reference to Pinot Noir as the secret to his remarkable longevity. His teammates drank it up. “They start joking ‘Oh, is that the key?’” Newman recalled. “But I promise you that night, five guys took pictures of a glass of wine they were drinking.”
