How the late Zsa Zsa Gabor boosted California wines’ PR efforts

Tributes are pouring in for Zsa Zsa Gabor.

The Hungarian actress, whose Kardashian-like self-parodying glamour and revolving-door marriages to millionaires made her a permanent tabloid fixture, died Sunday in Los Angeles at age 99.

A lesser-known fact about Gabor is that she was featured in a PR coup orchestrated by brand communications pioneer Daniel Edelman. The stunt is widely credited as saving a struggling California wine industry from being wiped out by competition from French imports.

When Edelman was starting out, the firm focused on brand communications. In the late 1960s, the fledgling agency represented the California Wine Institute, launching a program to educate consumers and journalists about California wines.

As part of the publicity campaign, Edelman retained movie star Vincent Price as a spokesman. It was one of the first uses of a celebrity in a public relations campaign.

Edelman booked Price on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson, whose other guest that evening was Zsa Zsa Gabor. When asked if she would participate blindfolded in a wine taste test, Gabor responded, “Oh, it’s no problem. I was ‘weaned’ on vine,” in her thick accent.