HAUTE MOVES

THE ATHLETES: Dan Marino and Damon Huard

Dan Marino is a former NFL quarterback who played 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. He has won dozens of accolades, including NFL Rookie of the Year, NFL MVP, and the 1998 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005. His business partner, Damon Huard, is also a former NFL quarterback, with 12 seasons and two Super Bowl rings under his belt with the New England Patriots.

THE WINE: Passing Time

THE STORY

Former Miami Dolphins quarterback Damon Huard had to travel 3,000 miles away from home to learn about the fine wines coming from his home state of Washington. It was teammate and NFL Hall of Famer, Dan Marino, who went into his personal cellar to introduce Damon to Washington State wines during the 1997 season. Over the next decade, the former QBs’ conversation about wine evolved into a discussion about owning and operating their own winery upon Huard’s retirement and returning to Washington State. Passing Time was then launched with the 2012 vintage of cabernet and released in the spring of 2015.

THE ATHLETE: Yao Ming

After being selected with the first pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, Yao Ming flourished with the Houston Rockets for nearly a decade as a fivetime NBA All-Star so much so that he became an NBA Basketball Hall of Fame inductee.

THE WINE: Yao Family Wines THE STORY

Yao Ming first fell in love with wine after an introduction from thenteammate Dikembe Mutombo, and upon visiting Napa for the first time in 2009, realized this was how he wanted to leave a legacy. After retiring from the NBA in 2011, he founded his awardwinning Napa Valley winery, Yao Family Wines.

THE ATHLETE: Ernie Els

Ernie Els is a former World No. 1 ranked South African pro golfer with more than 70 career victories to his name, including four major championships. Most notably, he is one of only six golfers to twice win both the U.S. Open and The Open Championship. Els was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2010, and was inducted in May 2011.

THE WINE: Ernie Els Wines THE STORY

As a longtime lover of wine, Els sought to create a brand he could drink easily from the Helderberg region of his native South Africa. Ernie Els Wines was created in 1999, growing to four signature collections. The winery officially opened in 2005, and since then, the focus has been on producing a range of wines, with a particular focus on Cabernet Sauvignon.

THE ATHLETE: Chris Paul

Chris Paul, otherwise known as CP3, currently plays in the NBA as a point guard for the Phoenix Suns. He’s one of the most lauded players in the NBA: an 11-Time NBA All-Star, NBA Rookie of the Year Award winner, NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award, and a two-time Olympic gold medal winner.

THE WINE: La Fête Rosé

THE STORY

Earlier this year, Paul joined La Fête Wine Company as an equity partner. As a longtime supporter of the brand — the first entirely black-owned rosé wine company out of St. Tropez — it made sense for Paul, a longtime philanthropist, to align with a brand that champions social causes. Since its 2019 debut, La Fête has donated a portion of its proceeds to programs that provide disadvantaged youth with unique travel experiences, as well as to organizations that create opportunities for people of color in the wine and spirits industry.

THE ATHLETES: Channing Frye and Kevin Love

From 2005–2019, Channing Frye played for teams, including the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, and Cleveland Cavaliers, winning an NBA Championship with the latter in 2016. Kevin Love, his championshipwinning teammate on the Cavaliers, still plays for said team, and is also a fivetime All-Star and a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. national team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Summer Olympics.

THE WINE: Chosen Family Wines THE STORY

This is a story of friendship. Frye, along with business partners Chase Renton and Jacob Gray, debuted their Willamette Valley wines, including a Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay, in 2020. Love, a close friend of Frye’s, joined the brand in 2021 as partner. Together, the gents have many more award wins in mind for their future off the court.

THE ATHLETE: Mario Andretti

Mario Andretti is one of the most successful race car drivers in history — one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula 1, IndyCar, the World Sportscar Championship, and NASCAR. To date, he remains the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967), and the Formula 1 World Championship.

THE WINE: Andretti Winery THE STORY

Andretti launched his wine label as a hobby in 1996, two years after retiring from auto racing, as a way of commemorating his storied career. After catching the winemaking bug, he and longtime friend Joe Antonini purchased a plot of land in the Oak Knoll region of Napa Valley, grew several varietals of grapes, and built a Tuscan-themed winery, tasting room, and guesthouse.

2022 McLaren +2022 McLaren 720S Spider 720S Spider

Great design is timeless.

BY TIM LAPPEN

MCLAREN AUTOMOTIVE, ESTABLISHED IN 1985, GREW OUT OF THE successful racing career of New Zealander, Bruce McLaren. His company, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, focused primarily on Formula 1 cars. After McLaren’s passing in 1970, the company morphed a few times and, after a 1980 merger, its first entry into the world of street-going cars, the 1991 McLaren F1, was a doozy.* It arrived as a three-seater, with the pilot in the middle and the passengers slightly behind and on either side. It was pricey ($800,000 to $1,000,000), rare (only 64 were made), and really fast (0 to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds, top speed of 217 mph). To date it has seen resales as high as $20,000,000. For the 1990s (and even today), those performance numbers were staggering — no wonder the car was so collectible.

Later, McLaren decided to create more of a “people’s sports car” (“people” being defined as those flexible enough to get in and out of a small, low car and wealthy enough to buy it). Their MP4-12C was a great first entry into that market segment, but fast-forward some six years and several intervening models, we have the 2022 McLaren 720S, one of McLaren’s “Supercars” (their other car categories are “GT” and “Ultimate”). First produced in 2017, the 2022 model year 720S Spider (convertible) that was mine for about a week was as fresh as they come . . . and you can’t say that about many cars that were introduced five years ago.

First, there’s the aesthetic. The 720S has the proper supercar stance — low, sleek, pointy front, slightly upswept rear, scoops and aerodynamic bobs and weaves, rear wing — and certainly has the sound befitting a car of its stature. Launched in 2017, the Spider version arrived about 24 months later, and the years have been very kind to this car. Everywhere I went it drew a crowd, aided no doubt by the gorgeous Amaranth Red metallic paint and lots of blacked-out bits, including those of carbon fiber, its arrival heralded by the sports exhaust. The base price on “mine” was $315,000, but it sported about $60,000 in options (thank you, McLaren, for the loan!).

Of course, the looks would be an empty brag without the performance to back it up and, again, the 720S delivers. With a twin-turbo V8 pumping out over 700 hp, 0 to 60 mph times are 2.8 seconds and the top speed is 212 mph (your mileage and jail time may vary). Even the convertible top is fast — just 11 seconds from one position to the other, and it even operates on the fly, while under way up to about 30 mph.

Not surprisingly, the looks and the performance are matched by the sound as the 720S announces its comings and goings with an aria that can range from basso profundo to full-on banshee (depending on your neighbors’ tolerance). I love the sound of a performance engine and McLaren delivers, in spades.

One nice thing — McLaren’s Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) program can provide a car that appears new, yet the looks, feel, and performance compare favorably with any new car in the segment. As McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt says, “Our mission is not only to build the best supercars in the world, but also to offer the best ownership experience.” Well done, sir. *I use this word advisedly: Some people think the word “doozy” has its roots in the auto world — deriving from the Duesenberg, the top-of-the-line American cars that were introduced to the public in 1920.

Aston Martin DBX 707

The ultimate in practical luxury.

BY TIM LAPPEN

ANYONE WHO HAS DRIVEN ON THE ROAD RECENTLY must have noticed that sports utility vehicles (SUVs) have taken over and sent the majority of sedans back to their garages. They sit high so you can see better (unless there’s another SUV in front of you, which is more likely every day), hold everything, and have a cool factor that a minivan could only dream about. So is it any wonder that the car manufacturers decided that, if an SUV was popular, why not make an SSUV (Super SUV), perhaps the auto world’s first Clark Kent/Superman dichotomy, with the first impression being a nice-looking machine but, hidden somewhere under that sheet metal is the power to light up a small city.

Of course, we need to give a nod to the Porsche Cayenne (I think that “Porsche Sriracha” wasn’t available), which was at least among the first and one of the most popular ways to combine the practicality of an SUV with the fun and alacrity of a sports car, to create the great combination of huevos and salsa. And since that time (around 2002), Porsche has gone on to create several versions of the Cayenne while others have jumped into the fray with incredibly powerful variants. To achieve the top horsepower record for a luxury SUV today means that you must consider the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT (679 hp), Lamborghini Urus (650 hp), and a few others (with some even more powerful all-electrics coming at warp speed). But the newest Aston Martin DBX 707 luxury SUV weighs in with a touch under 700 hp.

The DBX itself is a great Aston — it ticks all the boxes for an excellent SUV but adds the Aston Martin secret sauce: design, fit, finish, quality materials, Aston DNA — which makes it unmistakably a member of the family. But not to be outdone by others in the luxury SUV space, Aston cooked up its alreadyhealthy twin-turbo V8 so that it pumps out 707 PS. That’s where the name comes from: It’s the equivalent of about 700 hp, has about 665 lb.-ft of torque, and can move this 4,950 lb. (curb weight) hauler 0 to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds and keep going on up to 193 mph. (For comparison, the standard DBX has about 535 hp, hits 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds and has a top speed of 181 mph.) The 707 base price is expected to be roughly $235,000, well above the standard DBX’s base of $176,900. Deliveries are expected to begin around the middle of 2022.