Intereresting transaction indeed - the largest ‘brand’ transaction thus far in Oregon. This makes this the first type of deal in OR similar to all of the recent ‘brand’ purchases that have been made in CA, including Meiomi, The Prisoner, etc.
This shows the strength of ‘brands’ with consumers - regardless of vineyard sourcing.
Thoughts?
Depending on what they paid, it was either a great idea or a terrible idea.
Isn’t every product a brand, regardless of whether there are millions of cases of it or dozens?
The Oregon wine brand is very strong and we’re seeing interest nationally and internationally just continue to grow,” O’Brien said.
The Acrobat deal doesn’t include any vineyards or land — Foley Family Wines gets the brand IP and inventory
This indicates how unimportant multiple new AVAs are, whether in Europe or the US. People just don’t
care enough to let that stuff matter as much as some people think it does.
Isn’t every product a brand, regardless of whether there are millions of cases of it or dozens?
Good point. And people make some distinctions, but at different levels.
For example, everyone knows Bordeaux and Napa. Some people know the big names - Mondavi, Lafite, etc. But fewer people know Oakville, Oak Knoll, and so on. I think the take-away is that it pays to have a regional recognition factor and then within that, a few bigger names will make their way to the top. But get recognition for a large region first.
“Wines of Argentina” markets the entire country. “Drink Ribera” markets the entire region. The Loire has a trade association. Santa Barbara should market Santa Barbara, not something dumb like Sta Rita Hills, which is smaller than some estates. And “Sta” just looks like a horrible typo.
I think they were referring to ‘brand’ as opposed to ‘winery with vineyard land’ . . .
Absolutely agree. I’d argue that many successful mass market premium brands could remove their AVA designate and they’d see very little consumer acknowledgement. The equity lies with the label, not the region.
I try to explain this to wine folks all of the time . . .which is why I’m more in favor of touting ‘geographic’ AVA’s in our area than specific ones.
Ask most folks in the LA or OC area where the Sta Rita Hills are and they truly will have no idea that they are in the Santa Barbara County area. Seriously.
The larger wineries already know this - and you’ll see more and more of these brands with ‘blends’ that are non-variety and non-AVA specific - because at the end of the day, most consumers simply do not care. They just want a wine that ‘tastes good to them’ and has a ‘nice package’ and perhaps a ‘fun name’ . . .
And this is NOT just at the sub $15 price points. Check out the cost of The Prisoner or BlindFold one of these days.
Cheers.
I think this is a great point. With too many choices at the wine or grocery store of wines , and little (if any) understanding by the consumer on how to distinguish them, or time/money/desire to figure out what you like/don’t, why not just make a blend that’s appealing to a wide spectrum? More power to them.
The competition is nearly endless, so branding and experience are becoming ways to distinguish and appeal to a new generation of wine buyers. This is true at all price points, to varying degrees.