Jon Bon Jovi is no longer the young man with the long (and scandalous at the time) puffy blond hair and slinky poses who graced the adolescent – and not so adolescent – folders of the ’80s and ’90s thanks to the Superpop posters he is a man with short gray hair and impeccable manners who promotes wine with the second of his four children, Jesse Bongiovi. Pink. In France. From Bed of Roses 1992 to Rosé 2022. And always without complexes.
The veteran rocker, actor and philanthropist from New Jersey (USA) reinvented himself at the age of 60. Now he uses his money and prestige for a wine that is produced “as a family”, for which he devotes the same energy with which he has devoted himself to music for decades and with which he also hopes to achieve many successes. It doesn’t seem to be going in the wrong direction: Hampton Water, the rosé, or “pink juice” — as Bon Jovi called the rosé wine when his kids were little that he reportedly always loved — has had it highly marked in trade magazines at nearly five Years that this family “adventure” has already lasted.
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The rosé is born together with his son and with the help of the renowned French winemaker Gérard Bertrand (he plants his vineyards in the Languedoc, in southern France, and his savoir-faire; the Bongiovi provide the desire, the money and the famous name ) It will be in driven out of the United States and is beginning to gain strength in Europe, the next big market to conquer.
And of course, Bon Jovi lends itself once again to displaying his famous smile for a presentation in Paris with the eternally imposing Eiffel Tower in the background under a flawless blue sky on a hot May afternoon. Perfect, say the Bongiovi, to open one (there will be many) of the bottles, identified by the label of an elegant swimmer plunging into the sea that symbolizes, Jesse, 27, explains to EL PAÍS, the “Hamptons spirit : friends, family and good times, all topped off with a delicious bottle of rosé” (in French with an American accent).
In a way, this wine is a metaphor for Bon Jovi himself. This is no longer the young man born in New Jersey in 1962, son of a hairdresser and one of the first Playboy rabbits. A young man with a desire to take on the world who scrubbed the floors of his cousin’s recording studio to earn a few bucks and a chance in the music world.
The author of hits like Livin’ On a Prayer or Runaway is committed to his roots: he remembers having and raising his children in New Jersey with his lifelong wife Dorothea Hurley. But summers were spent in the Hamptons, the exclusive beach resort of the rich and famous in upstate New York. And it was here that Jesse Bongiovi got the inspiration for a business that his father enthusiastically supports – “Working with a son is one of the greatest joys,” he says – and that the young man developed in his senior year at university.
“The joke in the Hamptons is that people drink more rose wine than water,” explains Jesse. The Hamptons is a place that evokes a lifestyle that many dream of and few, like the Bongiovi family, can enjoy. The wine, which had to be called Hampton without the final s because of an issue with the designation of origin, is, according to the father, this “dream in a bottle” available to everyone. By happy coincidence, Gérard Bertrand adds that the landscape he is alluding to is very similar to that of southern Languedoc, where the grapes of this rosy dream grow caressed by the Mediterranean sun before being bottled after aging in oak barrels . A ritual in which Jesse Bongiovi regularly takes part and which also occupies the father.
After all, this is a business that moves a lot of money and where brands or names don’t necessarily lead to success, no matter how many records you’ve sold in your other life. So, as Jon Bon Jovi concedes, it was a “dose of humility.” Father and son had to win the trust of the winemaker Bertrand. “If I write a song and give it to another person who doesn’t know what to do with it, I would not only be disappointed but also very angry,” Bon Jovi told EL PAÍS. “Wine is her song and we had to learn and work to earn her respect, just like I ask before I give anyone a song of mine.”
Now these businessmen and friends are tackling the next challenge together: conquering Europe. Their presence in French markets is growing and they are looking to enter countries like Spain via the Hard Rock Cafe chain, which will offer their ‘Hampton water’. A challenge, a “mountain” as Bon Jovi defines it, that doesn’t frighten him. “It’s the same in the music industry: I’ve scaled the mountain. I’ve reached the climax. And you know what? That there is another higher mountain. Every time you reach the top, there’s another mountain to climb. And that’s a good thing, it makes you hungry,” he says. The same philosophy now applies to wine. “None of us thinks we’ve climbed the mountain yet. Humility keeps you hungry, and when you’re hungry you want to achieve something else. There’s always something bigger.” Keep the faith. Keep the faith.