Common Adds Winemaker To His Résumé With New Pinot Noir, Jefferey Park

There’s a new Pinot Noir wine brand on shelves and it was co-created by rapper Common. The artist has gone from curating lyrics to the perfect wine blend, which he named Jefferey Park.

The limited-edition 2024 Pinot Noir, is smooth, consists of red fruit notes and pairs with a range of foods. It’s now available in select markets on Gopuff and BevMo!

Jefferey Park is named after Common’s childhood stomping grounds located on the South Side of Chicago. He named the wine brand after that park because it’s reminiscent of good times, community, and joy–clearly core values for the 54-year-old. He hopes the wine brand is an extension of those values.

The rapper, actor, and activist tells ESSENCE he gets immense satisfaction from being a joy-giver and curating moments that help people feel good. Those moments often involve food and drinks.

“I like people to feel together and good and some of my most enjoyable times [have] been just around people and we feel that togetherness and we’re enjoying ourselves in this love,” he says. “And even in some of the smallest moments like just going to dinner with somebody I care about and having good food and wine.”

Born Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Common has been a wine drinker since early adulthood, so transitioning into the wine business was natural. Thus, the opportunity to collaborate with Argentine winemaker Karim Mussi and on-demand delivery service GoPuff felt aligned.

The partnership felt “in tune” with him as an artist and the “DNA” of who he is.

“My thing is always about creating something that’s elevated but still accessible and approachable,” the rapper explains.

Jeffrey Parks took over a year to conjure up (it was left to age for 12 months) and was crafted in Argentina’s Valle de Uco. The wine was also made with 27-year-old clone 777 Pinot Noir vines from the Andes Mountains and fermented with native yeasts.

Getting to what the rapper felt was the ‘perfect’ wine was a tedious process filled with back and forth communication, language barriers, multiple tastings, and revisions. But the process was rewarding as he got to use his artistry in a different way.

“It was a real creative process for me that I didn’t know I would experience,” he says. “And it was learning for me because I only knew wine to the point where like, hey, I love Pinot Noir— I like smooth, I don’t like it too tangy, you know. So I was describing the things not in a very sophisticated way, but I just knew how to communicate what I liked. I had to learn a little bit more and I’m still learning. But it made me appreciate winemaking more.”

Common got trusted individuals like his Tunisian assistant from France with a sommelier hospitality background to taste test the wine. Earlier, this year, they got the wine to the finish line, achieving their desired flavor profile.

“I’m so happy with the way it tastes, I’m proud of it,” Common says. “When I do things, I give my all, I give my heart and soul to it, and I try to create it to a point where I feel like it’ll be timeless and something that people will enjoy. So, I think we’ve accomplished that with this, with Jeffrey Park.”

We asked what foods best pair with the Pinot Noir, which often compliments earthy, savory, and moderately fatty foods.

“For me it would be branzino fish, and then maybe some salmon,” he says.

Roasted chicken is another dish the artist says would pair well with Jefferey Park adding that it’s an everyday wine he often has with snacks.

“It can be great with a cool dinner or just sitting down with friends, just listening to some music,” he explains.

For the non-meat eaters, consider pairing foods like soft cheeses for a contrast, wild mushrooms for a tartness that mirrors the wine’s notes, or root vegetables to elucidate the sweeter flavors.

Partnering on a wine brand is a dream Common says the younger version of him could have never imagined would come to fruition.

“He would have never dreamed that he would be partnering with a vineyard and creating wine,” he says. “It would blow his mind, but it would also be something that he would want to do because it’s in his heart and soul to bring good things to the people.”