Snake Wine - Git yew some...

[Tiger Wench]

Alabama football legend Ken Stabler introduces his "12" wine label
Published: Saturday, January 15, 2011, 12:21 AM   
 By Bob Carlton -- The Birmingham News

Ken "Snake" Stabler may know football and wine, but he's not so sure about snakes.

Not even the venomous-looking serpent that bares its fangs on his new private-label wine, "12."

"I don't know what that is," Stabler said Friday. "It's a friendly snake, though. Not a poisonous one."

A friendly Stabler, dressed in a crimson turtleneck and wearing championship rings on each hand, greeted wine connoisseurs and football fans alike at a tasting to launch his Championship Collection line of Chilean wines Friday afternoon at Overton & Vine in Mountain Brook.

He later appeared at Baumhower's Restaurant in the Village at Lee Branch, and will be in Tuscaloosa today for tastings at Spirits Wine Cellar at 3 p.m. and at Wings U restaurant at 6 p.m.

The "12" wine is named for the number Stabler wore as a star quarterback at Alabama in the 1960s and later for the NFL's Oakland Raiders.

"I wanted to celebrate the teams that I played on," Stabler said. "I've been so fortunate to play on great teams."

Stabler's Legend Cellars partnered with Anderson Estate Wines of Santiago, Chile, to produce his wine, which is being marketed with the tagline, "Celebrate your success."

The wine, which includes three reds and two whites, got high marks from wine lover Andrew Coleman, a Birmingham lawyer who attended the Overton & Vine tasting.

"I love it, and I knew I would," Coleman said. "I'm familiar with the Anderson Estates label, and I love Chilean wine."

Coleman likes Stabler's wine for another reason, too.

"I'm not going to lie to you," he said. "I'm an Alabama fan, so the label doesn't hurt my feelings, either."

That's just what Stabler wanted to hear.

"That was the issue by putting the '12' on it," Stabler said. "The curiosity buyer will buy it for that reason, but we think the product inside the bottle is what makes people come back."

Overton & Vine owner Smitty Smith said he sold out of six cases on Friday. Most customers got Stabler to autograph their bottles.

"That was every last drop we had," Smith said.

Another shipment should arrive by Friday, he added.

For now, Stabler's wine is available by the bottle at only a few wine shops in Alabama, and by the glass at Baumhower's Restaurant locations around the state, Stabler said.

He hopes to soon begin selling it in Mississippi, Georgia and other surrounding states, as well as in California, where he played for a decade with the Raiders, winning the Super Bowl in 1977, and where he developed an appreciation for a good bottle of wine.

Stabler's wine has a suggested retail price of $11.99 a bottle, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the XOXO Stabler Foundation, which supports such charities as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Mulherin Custodial Home for special-needs children in Mobile, and Mobile's Camp Rap-A-Hope, a summer camp for children with cancer.

Stabler was unsure how much of his wine sales will go to the charities.   Does a legal defense fund count as a charity?  **

"It matters just the fact that you are giving," he said. "It's not a matter of how much you give. We will give as much as we possibly can."

Stabler, who had DUI arrests in 1995 and 2001, made headlines again in June 2008, when he was arrested in the Baldwin County town of Robertsdale on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Following the incident, Stabler took a leave of absence from his job as the color analyst on the radio broadcasts of Alabama football games, but vowed to fight the allegations against him.

"I regret that the Alabama family has had to suffer through this matter," he said in a prepared statement at the time.

Stabler maintained his innocence, though, and four months later, a Robertsdale municipal court judge found him not guilty.

The 65-year-old, silver-haired Stabler said Friday he has no concerns about marketing an alcoholic beverage with his name, number and legacy attached to it.

"No, not at all," he said. "It's all about our foundation. It's all about celebrating those teams.

"I didn't ship a thousand cases in here to drink," he added. That ain't enuff anyway....
"Also, very honestly, Kenny more than anybody understands the accountability and responsibility of alcohol and drinking," his business partner, Kim Ross Bush, said. "We're not promoting this product to under-age drinkers. There comes accountability and responsibility..."

"We've answered the question," Stabler said. SO DEFENSIVE!!

Stabler, who now lives in Gulfport, Miss., later said he does occasionally miss being in the broadcast booth on football Saturdays in Tuscaloosa.

"You love being around it, but 10 years was 10 years," he said. "I really enjoyed it because my daughters were there.

"I've got two daughters at Alabama now. I've got a third-year law student and a senior in communications, and being up there doing the games and having your kids there with you, it felt really good."