The Face of Wine-Making Is Changing
The face of wine-making is changing, because for a growing number of wines, the fancy labels you’re used to seeing, with mansions and vineyards printed on them, are now giving way to labels that are cheeky, cheap and rude!
For example: The best-selling wine brand in North America last year was Barefoot, which sells for around $7 dollars a bottle. That one has a label showing someone’s bare footprint.
Another popular wine is called Stench, which implies something you find in a gutter, not something that comes from a vine.
And there are other wines with names too rude to mention here, because they refer to slang terms for body parts, or derogatory terms for women, or fatherless men.
So, what’s going on? For starters, experts say it’s the latest wrinkle in the “budget wine” trend, meaning wines priced below $15 dollars a bottle. Wine-makers know they’ll earn more money marketing to people who have no interest in paying hundreds of dollars on a bottle of wine. In fact, ever since a Canadian wine-maker put out a line of budget wines called Dirty Laundry Vineyard, they’re doing ten times as much business.
Also, budget wines appeal to a younger generation that’s all about breaking old traditions, like the people who throw “divorce parties,” for example. Experts say if you’re celebrating the end of a friend’s messy marriage, then a bottle of wine with a hoity-toity name just won’t cut it, but if you give a bottle of wine with a rude name, that’s more likely to put a smile on your friend’s face.
For example: The best-selling wine brand in North America last year was Barefoot, which sells for around $7 dollars a bottle. That one has a label showing someone’s bare footprint.
Another popular wine is called Stench, which implies something you find in a gutter, not something that comes from a vine.
And there are other wines with names too rude to mention here, because they refer to slang terms for body parts, or derogatory terms for women, or fatherless men.
So, what’s going on? For starters, experts say it’s the latest wrinkle in the “budget wine” trend, meaning wines priced below $15 dollars a bottle. Wine-makers know they’ll earn more money marketing to people who have no interest in paying hundreds of dollars on a bottle of wine. In fact, ever since a Canadian wine-maker put out a line of budget wines called Dirty Laundry Vineyard, they’re doing ten times as much business.
Also, budget wines appeal to a younger generation that’s all about breaking old traditions, like the people who throw “divorce parties,” for example. Experts say if you’re celebrating the end of a friend’s messy marriage, then a bottle of wine with a hoity-toity name just won’t cut it, but if you give a bottle of wine with a rude name, that’s more likely to put a smile on your friend’s face.
