Brand Wars

Prior to this year's Super Bowl, I had no idea that corn syrup was an ingredient in beer. But like most Americans, I was confronted with this fact (over and over) as Bud Light rushed to smear Coors and Miller Lite. Being anything but a fan of Bud Light, I can't say the ads had much of an effect on me. However, I did feel the shot across the bow that Miller and Coors must have felt (and in much greater magnitude). As I read today's WSJ, I learned that Bud Light had not only angered Miller and Coors by this attack because of its surface level implications, but, more importantly, because the major beer brands had actually been working in concert, behind the scenes, to launch a Got Milk? type campaign, to help combat the waning consumption of beer. In fact, while other forms of alcohol have largely been on the rise since the 1960's, beer consumption has only dropped since the 1990's. In order to get ahead of this trend, it appears that the major beer companies wanted to pool their marketing budgets and reaffirm that beer was the right choice for the American alcohol consumer. Bud was now threatening this alliance and showing that it could not play fair.

Much of the discussion in the wine class, particular about the "buzz" wars with cannabis, has obvious parallels. However, since wine has so many more producers and actually thrives on variety, it seems that a similar campaign would actually be much more possible and productive. An alliance of wineries across the US could easily drum up significant financial support and could also raise awareness of the benefits of wine. The campaign could easily be structured around health benefits, paired with regional travel or even push forward environmental awareness based on the practices of viniculture. Without even having to come out and criticize other buzz-generating products (i.e. not taking the Bud Light approach), wine could come out as a step above the other buzz items (which is entirely on brand).

The God of Wine

It strikes me as both fascinating and deeply culturally revealing that the Greeks and Romans had a God of Wine: Dionysus, to the Greeks, and Bacchus, to the Romans.

Definitely very passionate about grapes. Exhibit A, the bunch he wields like the tip of a spear in his left hand.

The long list of things Dionysus was the God of is astounding. Not only did his jurisdiction cover wine, but he also was the God of winemaking, grape cultivation, fertility, ritual madness, theater, and religious ecstasy. I find it incredibly intriguing that through Dionysus, Greeks and Romans associated wine with fertility, madness, theater, and religious ecstasy. Thematically, a sense of loss of agency and exaggeration courses through Dionysus's veins.

As one of the twelve Greek Olympians, Dionysus stood on the helm of celestial power, yet he was inherently an outsider. Dionysus was a demigod: half man, half god. The son of Zeus and a mere mortal woman.

The legend goes that Dionysus was born among mortals in order to be hidden from Hera, Zeus's envious wife. Dionysus cultivated grapes, invented wine, and went through Asia teaching mortals how to make wine. He is known as "the liberator" because his gift to mankind -- wine and joy -- liberated mortals from societal constraints.

Life's incomplete with reds and whites - meet the blue wine!

About one or two years ago I run into this particular product in the news... a startup was trying to challenge the traditional market of wine with... blue wine!?! It sounds weird and crazy, but wait to see how it looks! 

Apparently, the color hear is not meant to change the flavor but to make the visual experience different and interesting when drinking. Indeed, blue wine is still made from wine grapes. (However, the regulation of some countries do not (yet) recognize the wine as wine - how can it not be red or white!?!)

And why Blue? In psychology, the blue colour represents movement, innovation and infinity. It’s also a colour frequently associated with flow and change

For instance Gik is a Spanish wine company whose blue wines are made from a blend of red and white grapes. It is known to be a "chilled white wine with organic pigments (anthocyanin, from the skin of red grapes, and indigotine) and yields a sweet, crisp flavor". 

But even if it started in Spain, the trend has arrived to the two other largest and traditional wine markets: Italy and France. Saracini is an Italian wine company that makes a variety of avant-garde and classic wines.  Blumond® is their sparkling blue wine.  Technically, it’s a Prosecco mixed with blue curaçao.  It has a vibrant light blue hue and presents a sweet, peachy flavor.

The curiosity of consumers has made these two brands successful and available all over the world. Gik can be found in more than 30 US states, after having pre-orders of more than 30,000 bottles before the launch of the product in the US. The wine is intended to attract millenials, being sold in the website as "Blue, the instagrammable" and has a price of $16. 

If by now you are curious too and want to try it, don't expect to find it in Trader Joe's (yet) but you can find it online easily!