QUEENS — Fans taking in Opening Day at Citi Field will be able to drink wine sold by Ron Darling, the Mets former pitching ace and current announcer.
The proceeds from the vino, fittingly called “Darling,” will go toward the Ron Darling Foundation to fight juvenile diabetes, which his son, Jordan, now 21, has suffered since he was 11 years old.
“I won't be satisfied until there is a cure,” Darling told DNAinfo New York.
His venture into the wine business was the brainchild of his pal and partner, Steven McFadden, a legendary saloonkeeper who established the bar that still bears his last name on Second Avenue and 42nd Street.
The way McFadden tells it, he was invited to Citi Field three years ago by another bar owner, Donnie Lipeles, who was also a friend of Darling.
At the time, the ex-Met hurler was trying to raise money for his new charity by signing baseballs and taking photos with fans inside McFadden’s restaurant at Citi Field. McFadden and the baseball legend, who played for the fabled 1986 World Championship team, hit it off.
During the off-season two years ago, the two pals were at dinner at Smith & Wollensky when Darling suggested that McFadden come up with a business idea “for us to be involved in together,” McFadden recalled. “I took it to heart.”
Lightning stuck one night while McFadden was watching television.
While watching Turner Classic Movies, McFadden saw a film starring Clark Cable. “He was wearing a white tie and tails in the movie, and he toasting his lady friend with a glass of wine,” McFadden said.
“That’s it!’” McFadden thought to himself. “Ron Darling Wine!”
He immediately called Paul Favale, president of HP Selections, a New York wine company, to see if the idea would fly.
“He said, ‘Great,’” McFadden recalled. He then telephoned Darling, who immediately said, “Let’s do it!”
They hired a winery to initially produce 125 cases of red and whites, which sold out in two weeks.
They ordered another 250 more cases this year, which the Mets scooped up to be a gift for season ticket holders.
Fans at the ballpark can also get a glass of the wine at concession stands.
Now, the partners, including Paul Favale, are thinking of expanding. McFadden recently traveled in February to California, where he spent nearly a week at the Benzinger vineyards, which may become involved in the next round of Darling's Chardonnay and Syrah wines.
If the business grows, Darling has pledged all his proceeds to his foundation and diabetes research.
Meanwhile, Darling's son, Jordan, is now a junior at Iona College in New Rochelle. And his fledgling wine business appears to be on the verge of taking off.
“We are starting to look like a business,” McFadden said.
