I love these Wine 2.0/internet/Generation Y wine stories. I’m not sure if this is kind of a developing scene, or a revolution, but these brands seem to be proliferating at rate that is growing and they always have a good angle with some interesting momentum behind them.
By way of background, a couple of weeks ago I did a post on Bret Lyman who works professionally for a series of short films he is producing under the pseudonym of B. Napa.
Bret is striving to create the definitive documentary of harvest and he premiered a short film at the recently concluded Sonoma Valley Film Festival.
Interestingly and unbeknownst to me until I was tipped off (and I separately saw a Wines & Vines article), another documentary premiered at the festival called “Harvest Young.”
The premise of this documentary is the wine industries ignorance of Generation Y.
You can watch the trailer here.
While I haven’t seen the documentary, I understand that a wine called Sacre Bleu is principally featured in the documentary as a brand that targets young wine consumers.
I found out from a local Indiana distributor that Sacre Bleu is going to be introduced in Indiana in May.
Funny how these things collide from different corners of the wine universe.
Sacre Bleu, depending on which version you believe, is a stereotypical French cuss word for “Holy Crap” that nobody actually uses—similar to the notion that all French men are great lovers and the French love Jerry Lewis.
The wine appears to be something of a negociant brand from a company based in Minnesota, though the positioning fits into the statistic that Gen. Y/Millenials are attracted to import brands. The wine line-up includes a Cab., Pinot, Merlot, Chard, and a red and white blend.
An article on the “Young Harvest” filmmakers elaborates on their happenstance trip into Minnesota to talk wine with the folks behind Sacre Bleu.
“We’re making a movie about the wine industry in California and we end up going to another area, Minnesota, where you don’t even think about wine,” he said. “We got their views about wine and we’re finding out they’re basically wondering the same things.”
The brand Wilson referred to is Sacre Bleu, a company that imports and specifically markets a brand of wine to 21-28 year olds.
Sacre Bleu uses marketing methods previously unheard of in the wine industry, like a MySpace page and wine parties, to appeal to a younger crowd.
Sacre Bleu is also 90 point-a top-rated wine-and sells at a price that doesn’t break the bank, a big plus for the younger demographic.
I’m going to poke around on this one and see if I can’t get in contact with Sacre Bleu, in advance of their Indiana launch. Until then, check out their site and their Myspace.com page and contemplate the notion that this trickling of new brands aimed at younger consumers that are more holistically appealing than, say, a critter brand, is actually the emergence of the next brand of wine marketing.
Of course, from a marketing perspective, hot chicks on your Myspace page don’t hurt, either.