From the category archives:

wine brands

Brands leading Growth in US markets

February 14, 2010

In spite of the financial crisis or maybe because of the financial crisis, a recent study of the 2008 edition of The U.S. Wine Market: Impact Databank Review and Forecast show that Americans are drinking more and better wines. The study seems to confirm that US wine drinkers keep away from low-end brands and favor [...]

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Boomer Woman: the New Consumer?

December 22, 2009

Marketers are always on the look out for new consumers. They seem to have bypassed an interesting category, the Boomer Woman. What is so different between a Boomer Man and a Boomer Woman? A Boomer Woman just spent 20 or 25 years of her life building her career, child rearing and managing a home. Women [...]

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Tasting and Branding

November 9, 2009

Last week I was invited to the “Panorama” Tasting of the on line store Millesima.com on Sauternes and Barsac. I was privileged enough to taste château d’Yquem 1998, 2002 and 2005, Château Climens 1998, Château Rieussec 1997, Château Rabaud-Promis 1997, Château Coutet 1998 and 2004, château de Fargues 1996 and 1997. Many others were presentend [...]

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Beaujolais back on the road?

September 1, 2009

Readers of Wine Brands might remember I opened the book through the story of the worldwide celebration of Beaujolais Nouveau. It happens that Beaujolais Nouveau’s international success became a curse for the image of the good Beaujolais wines. In his article “Taking on the Beaujolais Clichés” in his blog The Pour, Eric Asimov stated clearly [...]

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Tapas and friends=Tapeña wines

August 4, 2009

When I was working on Wine Brands, I happened to notice the launch of a new Spanish wine brand, Tapeña. At that time, I was mostly intrigued and seduced by the great label. Two years later, I had the opportunity to hold a bottle of their 2008 Tempranillo in my hands and taste the wine, [...]

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A huge discount, good PR?

July 20, 2009

Want a Barolo, Penfolds’ “St. Henri” Shiraz or a Roederer Cristal 57% down their regular prices? Go to a few sites just opened to surf on the new (unfortunate) wave of overstock: winestilsoldout.com or thewineliquidator.com. On winestilsoldout, the sale rarely exceeds 8 hours – about a working day. That’s why many high-end or luxury wine [...]

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Is the place in the taste?

July 6, 2009

Silly question? The Santa Carolina wine brands state in their printed ad: “The place is in the taste”. It’s signed “Santa Carolina” over the picture of 7 bottles of wines (2 whites and 5 reds) . I briefly scanned the ad and saw: a “Feel green” logo, a “certified carbon neutral” logo, a web site [...]

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European consumers loyal to their wine brands

May 11, 2009

A short study conducted by Gfk among wine consumers of 9 European countries (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Russia, Poland) brought good news to wine brands: European consumers are loyal to their favorite brands. Asked if they would consider switching to a similar but cheaper brand, an average of 67% said they would [...]

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Brands or not Brands?

December 2, 2008

I just read the paper of Joe Ray on “Wines: Is”made in France” enough?” for brandchannel.com. It started me thinking about wine brands in relation to quality – which seems to be the basic rule, according to Ray, for becoming a French wine brand. It happened I just had dinner in a very traditional French [...]

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Clarendelle tasting in Paris

November 28, 2008

Last Tuesday, I had the privilege of presenting Wine Brands at the WH Smith bookstore in Paris. besides listening to my blurb on the book, the attendants had the pleasure to taste one of my very favorite wine brand, Clarendelle in two colors and vintages: 2003 Clarendelle Red and 2005 Clarendelle white. Not familiar with [...]

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