Dwyane Wade Says Wine Is Popular with NBA Players

Dwyane Wade poses with his glass of wine on the cover of Wine Enthusiast‘s May 2016 issue.

Here is what the 34-year-old Miami Heat basketball player had to share with the mag:

On wine being popular with NBA players: “In the circles that I am in, they are. I think enjoying wine comes with age and sophistication and a certain kind of maturity. All of my friends that are 30 and up, a bottle of wine is what we go to when we sit down and have a conversation. When you’re younger, you’re totally different. Your conversations are different. Now, we sit down and drink wine and talk about investments.”

On how he started drinking wine: “I watched my mom and dad abuse drugs and alcohol, and it pushed me away from it. I didn’t drink anything. I wasn’t into it. It always turned out bad. As I started getting older, into my late 20s, I started understanding that alcohol was how you use it. So I started liking drinking wine. I liked what wine stood for at dinner parties and how it was a conversation piece.”

On deciding to make his own wine: “When my new deal started with Li Ning, the China-based shoe company. I had just turned 30 and was thinking about what’s next, what the future looks like for me. I was expanding myself, expanding my brand, and getting into other things than the typical deals I’ve done. It was around the same time, so like four years ago.”

For more from Dwyane, visit WineEnthusiast.com!