The Image
Photo of a mini bottle of flavored wine, taken at a BBQ of a friend’s place in Bordeaux, France.
Analysis
Photo of a mini bottle of flavored wine, taken at a BBQ of a friend’s place in Bordeaux, France.
Analysis
I had the pleasure of going to France this weekend to visit my cousin Helga. She is Norwegian, but went to college in France in order to study her passion of Wine & Spirits. Since her masters program, she has worked for several chateaus and is now a wine broker for many distributors. Bordeaux, France is famous for its wine and many of her friends also work in this industry. This Sunday, we went to a BBQ at her friend’s house where we sampled many types of wine and champagne. Towards the end of the afternoon, her friend Dovole brought out a small bottle of wine that she wanted us to sample. It’s a new product that her company is going to launch and she wanted our feedback.
In my opinion, it looks like a mini bottle of rose or pink champagne. However, the immediate reaction of the French guests was that it looked like a bottle of shampoo. Apparently, there is a brand in France that packages shampoo in a very similar fashion. But in the wine and spirits section of a store, I don’t think it would be mistaken for shampoo.
The drink was described to me as a flavored wine, which doesn’t really make sense to me, but I was just happy that English was being spoken at all. So I looked at the bottle to try and read what it really said, hoping my middle school French would help to clear things up. It was then that I noticed the alcohol percentage of the bottle was 6.7%. That seems more like a beer than a bottle of wine, which is normally closer to 12% by volume. Now I’m thinking that it’s going to be something similar to a Smirnoff Ice. Once she opens it up and we all have a taste, I think I’m the only one that would consider ever drinking it. It tastes like strawberry wine, not a first choice, but I wasn’t spitting it out either. I think the French guests with their delicate palates for wine wanted to. They all complained of its artificial flavor and sarcastically wished her luck trying to sell it.
She is not surprised by people’s reaction and throws the bottle out, opening up a new bottle of “the good stuff” so that we don’t end on a bad bottle of wine at her party. At this point I’m very confused by all of this. Bordeaux is the largest quality wine district in the world*, why would they try to make this flavored wine instead? It was then that Dovole explained that wine is not something anyone drinks at a club. People have liquor drinks, beer, or champagne at clubs, but never wine. I still don’t really understand. The wine here is delicious and I don’t understand why people wouldn’t drink it at a club. Dovole and my cousin then explain how wine should be sipped and enjoyed with a meal. In a club, you don’t swirl the wine, smell the wine, or savor the wine. People drink wine for the experience and don’t get that in a loud nightclub, so it’s rarely ordered. Her company is trying to promote a wine cocktail in order to break into the club market. If you aren’t a beer or liquor drinker, this provides an alternative while out.
While I think the concept is great, I’m not sure Bordeaux is necessarily the best market for a wine cocktail brand. Wine is an enormous part of the culture here and tampering with hundreds of years of wine making may not be the right approach. I think this concept would work in the states but “wine coolers” have a negative connotation that would need to be avoided. It was so interesting to have industry insight on this topic in such a natural, candid forum. An unofficial focus group at someone’s private home was more than I could have asked for. Good food, good wine, and good company made for a great day, but having them do my homework too? TRES BIEN!
Key Points
-packaging
-focus group
-target audience
difference in cultures
* http://www.france-for-visitors.com/atlantic/bordeaux/the-wines-of-bordeaux.html
In my opinion, it looks like a mini bottle of rose or pink champagne. However, the immediate reaction of the French guests was that it looked like a bottle of shampoo. Apparently, there is a brand in France that packages shampoo in a very similar fashion. But in the wine and spirits section of a store, I don’t think it would be mistaken for shampoo.
The drink was described to me as a flavored wine, which doesn’t really make sense to me, but I was just happy that English was being spoken at all. So I looked at the bottle to try and read what it really said, hoping my middle school French would help to clear things up. It was then that I noticed the alcohol percentage of the bottle was 6.7%. That seems more like a beer than a bottle of wine, which is normally closer to 12% by volume. Now I’m thinking that it’s going to be something similar to a Smirnoff Ice. Once she opens it up and we all have a taste, I think I’m the only one that would consider ever drinking it. It tastes like strawberry wine, not a first choice, but I wasn’t spitting it out either. I think the French guests with their delicate palates for wine wanted to. They all complained of its artificial flavor and sarcastically wished her luck trying to sell it.
She is not surprised by people’s reaction and throws the bottle out, opening up a new bottle of “the good stuff” so that we don’t end on a bad bottle of wine at her party. At this point I’m very confused by all of this. Bordeaux is the largest quality wine district in the world*, why would they try to make this flavored wine instead? It was then that Dovole explained that wine is not something anyone drinks at a club. People have liquor drinks, beer, or champagne at clubs, but never wine. I still don’t really understand. The wine here is delicious and I don’t understand why people wouldn’t drink it at a club. Dovole and my cousin then explain how wine should be sipped and enjoyed with a meal. In a club, you don’t swirl the wine, smell the wine, or savor the wine. People drink wine for the experience and don’t get that in a loud nightclub, so it’s rarely ordered. Her company is trying to promote a wine cocktail in order to break into the club market. If you aren’t a beer or liquor drinker, this provides an alternative while out.
While I think the concept is great, I’m not sure Bordeaux is necessarily the best market for a wine cocktail brand. Wine is an enormous part of the culture here and tampering with hundreds of years of wine making may not be the right approach. I think this concept would work in the states but “wine coolers” have a negative connotation that would need to be avoided. It was so interesting to have industry insight on this topic in such a natural, candid forum. An unofficial focus group at someone’s private home was more than I could have asked for. Good food, good wine, and good company made for a great day, but having them do my homework too? TRES BIEN!
Key Points
-packaging
-focus group
-target audience
difference in cultures
* http://www.france-for-visitors.com/atlantic/bordeaux/the-wines-of-bordeaux.html
Agreed. Introducing yet another 'hip' spirit brand just screams disaster. For me, Bordeaux represents an idea of quality. You significantly diminish, or at least jeopardize, the integrity of that standard when you use it to market a below-the-line product. In the wine trade, location is everything. No doubt will the marketers highlight the distinguished terroir. And another industrialized wine product for 'cool' wine drinkers? That has been done before, and has failed.
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