Update on Michael Jordan Tequila Brand With Four NBA Owners

Basketball legend, Michael Jordan takes another shot teaming up with four other NBA owners to jump into the luxury tequila business.

The Charlotte Hornets owner alongside four of his colleagues – Wes Edens of Milwaukee Bucks, Jeanie Buss of the LA Lakers, Wyc Grousbeck and wife Emilia Fazzalari of the Boston Celtics to create an ultra-premium agave tequila blend that has already won several tasting prizes.

Speaking to Forbes about their new partnership, Emilia Fazzalari wife of Boston Celtics owner and who also doubles as the CEO of the new liquor brand said:

“It’s not about the ownership group. It’s not a celebrity-endorsed brand. It was never about that. For us, it has always been about the liquid first.”

According to the publication, the idea for the tequila business came in 2016 while Jordan and the group were meeting in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood. 

“We wanted this tequila that tasted great. We are competitors on the court. We stand across from each other and compete throughout the season. But we are collaborators by nature.”

So, the Cincoro Tequila was born. The name is a tribute to the group of five. The word “Cincoro” is the blend of two Spanish words, Cinco for five. Oro a word for gold which, according to Fazzalari, represents their ambition to create premium, quality tequila.

Interestingly, all the partners are actively involved in the branding and choice of blends.

For example, the whole team had tasted over a thousand different blends before settling on a flavor. Plus, Jordan was hands-on working with Nike’s Mark Smith, vice president of Innovation special projects to design the bottle.

The glass bottle that was finally approved by the team has five sides which loosely looks like an agave leaf and also as subtly acknowledges the five partners. The base of the bottle tilts up at 23 degrees a nod to Jordan’s iconic jersey number.

Cincoro is currently bottled in four tequilas – the unaged Blanco which is retailing at $70, Reposado, aged 8 to 10 months, Anejo aged for 24 to 28 months, and the high-end Extra Anejo aged for as long as 44 months retail at $1600.

The price point effectively places Cincoro among the priciest tequila brands on the market today.

However, according to Grousbeck, the brand had sold 300 cases in Massachusetts in the first three days and reorders are already in from Florida.

And going by the demand so far, Edens believe there are going to face a logistics problem soon.

“The biggest problem we are going to have is the supply,” he said. “I’m in the logistics and infrastructure business; logistics are going to be a problem because the stuff is so good. It really is.” One thing is sure though; there’s certainly a huge interest and demand for ultra-premium tequila brands in the U.S. as more than half of global tequila consumption is in the United States with about 18.3 million cases last year.