Guy: I’ll bring the whiskey.
Girl: I’ll bring the wine.
Guy: I’ll get my guitar.
Girl: I’ll go and get mine. I’ll wear my new lace.
Guy: I’ll wear my old leather.
Together: Yeah, we were made to make music together.
—“WHISKEY AND WINE” BY KATHIE LEE GIFFORD FROM THEN CAME YOU
I was born in Paris, France, but my parents weren’t the least bit French, so neither am I. As I mentioned earlier, we were in France because my daddy was in the navy. He had been assigned a position with General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s staff at SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe).
My parents had never been to Europe, so they embraced everything they experienced while they were there—all of the European traditions as well as traveling every chance they had to explore the wonders of England, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. When they finally did return to America, they brought their memories and their newfound affection for the delicacies they had discovered. Most especially, wine.
I grew up in this environment. I have wonderful memories of watching them enjoy a bottle of chianti with my mother’s spaghetti or a classic chardonnay with her roasted chicken. I associate wine with beautiful family memories, which has had a profound effect on my own sensibilities about the abundant life.
Wine is the most commonly mentioned alcoholic beverage in the Bible. It is a source of symbolism, yes, but it was also a deeply important part of Judaic life during biblical times. Interestingly, the ancient Hebrews also drank beer;3 just like my daddy discovered when he was transferred from Paris to Wiesbaden, Germany.
We had a loving home with parents who celebrated God’s blessings every day. It was joyful, it was celebratory, and it was fun. That is, unless my father was in the doghouse for something or my brother, Dave, was being a pain. Then you could expect that delicious roasted chicken to be thrown right at them by my mother. Yep, Joanie was a drama queen and full of surprises. But she usually missed, thank God.
One day in 2015, a very big man named Andy Cohan (no, not that one—slightly different spelling) came to meet with me at the NBC studios. My attorney had set up the meeting, and I was looking forward to hearing what this man had to say.
His first question was, “Why aren’t you in the wine business?”
“Where have you been all my life?” was my obvious response.
Andy was there to suggest a partnership with a successful company called Scheid Family Wines, located in Monterey County, California. At that time, they produced grapes for eighty different boutique wines. Francis Ford Coppola was among their clients, so they were a highly reputable company. Andy suggested a fifty-fifty partnership wherein Scheid would grow, manufacture, and bottle my wines, and I would participate in the selection, packaging, and promotion of them.
“Kathie,” he warned me right off the bat, “this isn’t going to be easy. There’s a very healthy cynicism out there regarding celebrity wines. People think celebrities just slap their names on their labels and cash a fat check. That’s what you’ll be up against, so this is going to take time.”
“I get it,” I told him. “But I want to be a serious partner. Someone might buy a bottle of my wine the first time out of curiosity, but they’re never going to buy another one if it isn’t excellent.”
“Exactly,” he agreed. And we made the deal.
I named my wines GIFFT not only because it contains letters from my own name but also as a play on the word gift—which I believe all blessings are.
I had an unusual way of choosing the wines we wanted to green-light for Scheid to produce. Everyone in my household had to taste the samples Scheid sent, and we had to agree unanimously on the winner. We all loved the process and never disagreed on the final choice for our red blend, chardonnay, rosé, and pinot grigio, which have all gone on to win double gold medals in blind taste tests in California wine competitions.
Our latest varietal is a delicious peach-flavored sparkling rosé—just in time to be served at my children’s weddings. But the best news of all is that our 4,800-acre Scheid Vineyards in beautiful Greenfield, California, just won one of the most prestigious wine-industry awards in the state—the California Green Medal environment award for being the cleanest, most sustainable, most energy-efficient vineyard.
I had to call GIFFT wine my “stuff” on the air with Hoda due to FCC rules. People always asked us if we were actually drinking wine on the show. No, I always answered honestly, we were sipping GIFFT wine, just as my father taught me. But so you’ll know, being involved with a morning show means waking up at two o’clock in the morning. So it’s not like we’d fall out of bed and begin belting back the vino. Actually, it was not our idea to have wine on the host chat table. For that you can thank, or curse, Chelsea Handler.
Chelsea was an early guest on our fourth hour soon after I joined the show. She was there to promote a new book, Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea. The producers had prepared a veritable plethora of vodka cocktails as a prop for her segment, and, let’s give them credit, it worked beautifully.
A week later, Brooke Shields showed up and immediately asked, “Where’s my cocktail?”
The next week Joel McHale showed up carrying his own bottle of Hennessy, which he promptly began to imbibe without the use of a glass. It got the producers’ attention, and suddenly one day two glasses of GIFFT wine magically appeared on our table.
Hoda and I laughed and had some fun with it, thinking it was all a big joke and would soon pass. It didn’t. The audience loved it and our ratings began to climb. USA Today christened us “The Happy Hour of Daytime TV,” and we were off and running. Hoda and I were stunned that nobody at NBC put a stop to it, but no one said a word.
It took on a life of its own.
I’ve been gone from the show for more than a year, but the two glasses of wine still remain in front of Hoda and Jenna. I think it’s the best example of the fact that it’s never too late to toast!