Celebrities uncork the wine business

• Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are launching Miraval wines
• Drew Barrymore has her namesake Pinot Grigio
• Fergie%27s Ferguson Crest is a family effort

Star-powered clothing lines are so vintage.

There's a new trend bubbling up: celebrity sommeliers.

Fergie just released her Ferguson Crest libations, from the Santa Barbara winery she founded with her father in 2006. Drew Barrymore unveiled her Barrymore Pinot Grigio, which hails from the Triveneto area of Italy. And without question, the most famous oenophiles-to-be are Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who are launching a rosé called Miraval from their French chateau (the wine sold 6,000 bottles via online orders within six hours Thursday) with whites to follow. It's a passion project in which Pitt and Jolie "are intimately involved," according to a statement Pitt gave to Bloomberg.

So what's behind the surge in bold-faced oenophiles?

"My wines are about having a dream and making it come true," Fergie says. "It's something for a father and daughter to share together. It's coming from the inside out. It's not about having a huge business."

Same goes for Barrymore. "I love wine, especially Pinot Grigio. It's what I drink with my girlfriends," she says. "It feels so right when you're sitting around a table having food and wine. I really wanted to start with a wine I was familiar with myself. I wanted it to be something that's really from my family. That's my grandfather's crest on the label. I wanted to honor the tradition of family."

Fergie, too, says her potables come straight from the heart and are a reflection of her California-based upbringing. After three decades of teaching, her father retired, left Los Angeles and decided to get into the wine business.

"He wanted to retire and move north and grow grapes. It was really special. And we thought, 'Let's not only bottle this for ourselves, let's share it.' I was always a big wine person. When I was little, my uncle would have these wine-tasting parties at our house. I learned that wines are about the smells and the experience as opposed to just chugging something to get drunk.

"It's a social thing and a way for families to get together. It's something I learned about and was excited about. Being a musician, wine and a good concert go hand-in-hand. Who doesn't put on a nice record and have a nice bottle of wine?"

Famous names with booze brands are nothing new. Sammy Hagar has had Cabo Wabo tequila since 1996, and Willie Nelson is the proud name behind Old Whiskey River bourbon. But the latest crop of grape purveyors is decidedly A-list, with thriving careers independent of their ventures. And their offerings are equally impressive: Barrymore's Pinot Grigio is sold at the upscale Eataly wine emporium, for example, where inventory is tightly curated.

She plans on launching more wines down the line, maybe one every few years, but she is in no rush.

"I want this to be the first in a curation of wines from around the world," she says. "I get to go and search for them and have these great adventures. I want to pick great, great wines. This was a great way to start. It took me three years to get it off the ground."

If you're unsure about trying one of the wines, just think about the star responsible for the bottle and what he or she represents.

"Looking at the celebrity whose name is behind it would help," says Gwendolyn Osborn, Wine.com's director of education and content. "A reality TV star may not be as focused on quality as they are on brand image, where a serious movie artist may be more likely to invest more into producing something of substance. When you taste and even read about Drew Barrymore's entry into wine, she had a goal for taste and how it was to represent her. I liked it! I thought it was fun and fruit-forward and lively."

As for the Jolie-Pitts: "They will probably also make a quality product. They have partnered with the best in the region, they have a tie to the place where they are making the wine, and I think they have a true goal to have this wine reflect its place and its history," Osborn says. On Thursday, the wine sold for €105 ($139) for a six-bottle case or a little more than $23 a bottle, the Associated Press reported.

When it comes to celebrities and whatever outside brands they launch, there has to be a clear connection between the person and product for a chance at long-term survival, never mind any guarantee of success.

"It has to be an authentic fit," says Jessica Stark, one of the powers behind Pauly D's brand of REMIX cocktails. "We are not going to hook a celebrity up to a liquor brand or create a liquor brand for a celebrity just because it seems to be the hot item of the moment. There has to be a sustainability factor between the celebrity and the product. If it's not there, you are sunk."