Years ago, multi-platinum-selling crooner Josh Groban caught his first big break filling in for Andrea Bocelli, and now, like the Italian tenor, the American baritone has expanded his range into wine. Groban’s latest performance is a duet with a boutique Sonoma winery in support of a charity close to his heart. The result of the partnership is the Halleck Vineyard 2014 “Find Your Light,” a limited-release Pinot Noir with all proceeds benefitting Groban’s children’s arts–education foundation of the same name.
“It was kind of a serendipitous thing that happened with [Ross] Halleck, that we were able to discover his wine,” Groban told Unfiltered. “It’s delicious; he doesn’t produce a huge amount of it and what he does produce is really fantastic, specifically the Pinots. And he’s also very philanthropic; he’s a big arts education supporter.”

(Pinot pals: Josh Groban, mother Lindy Groban and Ross Halleck.)

Groban announced his new wine venture last month during his annual Find Your Light Gala at City Winery New York, and offered attendees a chance to bid on 25 cases of the 100-case production. “All the paddles went up. The producers of The Great Comet, the Broadway show I was in, bought a case for the cast,” said Groban. “It was so fun to see people like Brian Stokes Mitchell, Idina Menzel, Jason Mraz—they were all bidding, and it was really gratifying to see.”

The remaining wine is available for presale on the Halleck website for $50. For Act II, the singer will be heading to Halleck’s winery next month to blend a new vintage. “This is going be a continued partnership,” Groban said.
Groban had actually been looking for a winemaker partner for a decade but never quite struck the right chord. Or to use Halleck’s metaphor: “He’d gone down the aisle with a few, but nothing had been consummated,” the vintner told Unfiltered via email.