On the streets, he’s known as E-40, a Vallejo, Calif., rapper who has spent more than two decades hustling in the hip-hop game. But in the world of wine, E-40 goes by his birth name, Earl Stevens, and his line of wines has scored a surprise smash hit in the ultra-competitive beverage industry.

E-40 has turned into the Robert Mondavi of hip-hop via his Earl Stevens Selections. His three wines include a red blend called “Function,” a moscato and high-alcohol fortified wine called “Mangoscato.” Since their October release, sales of E-40’s wines are already on par with such supermarket stalwarts as Rodney Strong and Ferrari-Carano. Earl Stevens Selections have sold more than 180,000 bottles in Northern California this year, an astonishing amount for a new wine brand.

“I’ve always loved wine,” said Stevens, in a phone call from his Bay Area home. “Sometimes you’ve got to roll the dice, but I had a good vibe about it. We’re making progress.”

The voice behind such West Coast classics as “Yay Area” and “Sprinkle Me” has become an unlikely ambassador of fermented grapes, a guy who’s usually more aligned with the rapper Too $hort than winemakers like Bob Trinchero. Many upstart vintners could only dream of creating the sales buzz E-40 is enjoying. A bottle-signing event at Costco on Arden Way in March drew nearly 1,000 fans, and the distributor for Earl Stevens Selections initially struggled to keep up with demand.

Earl Stevens Selections is finding traction not only in a competitive wine industry, but in a market that’s already crowded with celebrity brands, whether they’re bottle lines launched by KISS, Carlos Santana, Fergie or the rapper Lil Jon. Few of them have matched the success of Earl Stevens Selections. E-40 raps about street life, but he’s also a taste-maker and entrepreneur whose wine is designed as more than a mere vanity project. He hopes to establish Earl Stevens Selections as a bona fide supermarket brand.