When it comes to marketing wines to retail buyers, producers must consider what criteria are important to them. While I often poke fun at it, the “prettiest label” phenomenon is clearly an effective motivator. Surely, if the bottle’s label is appealing to the eyes, its contents should also be pleasing to the palate. Right? I recently spoke with a young woman who spoke proudly about having just completed a wine appreciation course. Her final exam was to buy any wine of her choice and then make a written assessment of its qualities and attributes. I was curious as to how she selected the wine-what criteria she used to make her purchase. Price? A well-known producer? Her favorite wine? Her response: “I picked the prettiest label.” She was serious.
Price is quite important to consumers when buying wines. Depending on the wine, both very low, as well as very high prices can effectively segment wine buyer types. Charles Shaw (“Two Buck Chuck”) proves theformer and Cult Cabernets confirm the latter. My wife and I recently attended a “Wine Expo” at which dozens of wines were available for tasting (and subsequent buying at discounted prices). Prices varied from under $10 per bottle to well over $40. Most of the least expensive wines were from a family owned, Sonoma County winery that has thrived for decades. Under normal circumstances, and particularly in light of today’s economic climate, I would have expected their tasting table to be crammed with people. It wasn’t, and very few were at their table during the two-hour tasting event.
Lastly, the debate still rages on how “wine bottle closures” affect the consumer’s perception of wine’s quality. I’m speaking of corks (real), imitation corks and metal screw top caps. Recent market research revealed, what everyone has known or at least suspected. That is, if a wine has a screw top cap, then consumers perceive its quality as not any better than those inexpensive, supermarket, faux-appellation jug wines of yesteryear (think Burgundy and Chablis) that were topped with metal screw caps. Personally, I rather enjoy pulling corks and anticipate hearing that “pop” as an prelude to the forthcoming pleasures. However, having said that, I should also relate that I’ve also purchased many wines, both New World and Old World, which were topped with metal screw caps, and they were flavorsome and reasonably well structured. Also, and most importantly, there was no issue of struggling to re-cork an unfinished bottle. I simply re-screwed the cap tightly and put the bottle into the fridge. As one retail wine clerk recently offered, “Who cares if it has a cork or not, as long as the wine tastes good.”
Submitted by Tom Barras