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The kaleidoscope of fanciful names on wine racks in many retail shops of late is beginning to look like a cross between a children's fairy tale and the adults-only department of a bookstore. Thirsty Lizard Chardonnay and Toad Hollow Zinfandel are stacked out opposite to 2 Brothers Big Tattoo Red. Whether blame should be fixed on the glut of grapes or credit accorded the growing creativity of sales and marketing experts, wine labels have never been so funny, distinctive and eye-catching. And many of the craziest names have recently turned into monster sellers, which almost certainly will give rise to a continuing torrent of off-beat and humorous monikers. Domain-this and Château-that suddenly seems positively out of fashion.
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Creative wine labels like Thirsty Lizard, Kissing Bridge and Toad Hollow
catch consumers' interest when they are browsing the retail shelves |
The leading edge of the new name game is played out in Australia, spurred by the phenomenal success of [yellow tail] over the past couple of years. And the most outrageous labels have typically been reserved for the segment of the business priced under $12 a 750-ml. bottle. Melbourne-based Cheviot Bridge introduced its Kissing Bridge Chardonnay to the U.S. market two years ago and expects to sell some 40,000 cases of the 2002 vintage this year in the United States for about $6 a 750-ml. bottle. It will sell another 35,000 cases of its Thirsty Lizard collection, which include Chardonnay, Shiraz and White Shiraz varietals for about $7 a 750-ml. bottle in various vintages. Thirsty Lizards is imported by Cheviot Bridge Wine Inc. based in Durham, North Carolina.
"The general image of Australians in America is that we don't take ourselves very seriously," says Hugh Cuthbertson, Cheviot's winemaker and marketing director. "We can laugh at ourselves. We're trying to convey that with the names of our wines. The name is part of the marketing and packaging, and the goal is to get people to try your product. Our challenge is to get them to pick up anything else."
Much of the New World is following Australia's lead, often employing impish double-enders in the process. Fairview in South Africa (imported by Vineyard Brands Inc. in Birmingham, Alabama), for instance, pokes fun at France's Rhône Valley with its Goats do Roam blended wine–the red is a marriage of seven grapes, ranging from Pinotage do Mourvèdre–whose current 2002 vintage is priced $9 a 750-ml. bottle. Fairview shipped 25,000 cases of Goat do Roam–the grapes share space at the winery with a heard of 900 goats raised for cheese making–into the United States in the first year, 2001. That total doubled to 50,000 by 2003, according to Robin Back, head of North American marketing for Fairview.
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The Vivacious Vicky! label features illustrations to catch the consume's eye,
while the 2000 Nuthouse Argyle Chardonnay takes a more subtle approach. |
"Life is too short to take everything seriously–wine need some humor," insist Back, who also markets another Fairview Rhône knock-off called Goat-Roti, with the 2002 Syrah priced at $18 a 750-ml. bottle. The Old World countries like France have their traditions and that's good. The New World doesn't have the same constraints." He admits that he's been surprised by Fairview's recent success in the United States and conceded that "There's no way we'd be doing this kind of volume if we were just using Fairview label. Our Goat name is what makes people curious about our product."
Funny wine names have now sprouted from virtually every country. Billington Imports, Inc. in Springview, Virginia, imports its 2 Brothers Big tattoo red, a blend of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, from negociant Calama Wines in Chile. Priced at $9 a 750-ml. bottle for the 2001 vintage, it sold nearly 14,000 cases last year. This year Billington plans to import nearly to 40,000 cases of the 2002 vintage. "The name and the label certainly help us stand out on the shelf. Retailer love to stack us out on the floor," says Alfredo Batholomaus, president and CEO of Billington, who explains that the name was inspired by his brother Eric, who is a tattoo artist.
In the United's States, Tod Williams has been making various varietals wines at Toad Hollow Vineyards in Sonoma since 1993, with one of its current bestsellers the 2001 Toad Hollow Cacophony Zinfandel, priced at $14 with production at 11,000 cases. He worries that the name-game has gone too far. "The funny names remind me of virtual-reality TV shows," Williams says. "We have one that becomes popular and before you know it there are 30 more just like them. Many of the wine names are getting pretty silly now. The whole trend may be overdone at this point."
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The Goat do Roam and Goat-Roti names pay homage to the vineyard's
friendly herd, while Big Tattoo Red refers to the supplier's brother. |
Retailers have been impressed by the quality, for the most part. Michael Flanagan, owner of Flanagan's Wine Market in Sarasota, Florida, a one-location, 1,200-square-foot retail shop, says he's high now on Vivacious Vicky! from Kiona Vineyards in Benton City, Washington, a non-vintage red blend priced at $11 a 750-ml. bottle, and Napa-based X Winery's 2002 Chardonnay priced at $ 18.50 a 750-ml. bottle. "If names like this encourage more people to drink wine, then I'm all for them," says Flanagan, who also does good business with Woop Woop Wines 2003 Shiraz from Australia priced at $13 a 750-ml. bottle.
The consensus is that funny names go over less well on-premise settings where sommeliers are trying to cultivate a serious image. But at Wildwood Restaurant & Bar in Portland, Oregon, a 120-seat Pacific northwest restaurant with a 150-bottle wine list that ranges from the 2002 Adelsheim Vineyards Pinot Gris for $24 to the Krug Gran Cuvée Brut Champagne for $225, wine director Randy Goodman is taking a chance on more unusual names all the time. He stocks the 2000 Argyle Nuthouse Chardonnay from Willamette Valley's Argyle Winery in Dundee, Oregon, for $49 a bottle.
"We've also sold the Bonny Doon Big House Red for $6 a glass here," Goodman says. "The thing about kitschy wine names is that they do well at lower prices. Put a wacky label on a $80 bottle of wine, and most consumer will feel safe buying a premier cru Burgundy instead."
Originally published on Market Watch magazine – ©2004 Market Watch
H. Lee Murphy is a contributing editor of Market Watch |
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Wine collection in
a medieval cellar
in Siena, Italy
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