Not only wine…

A crest helps sell wine

What are you doing without a crest? The family coat of arms helps sell wine and business possibilities increase if there is a picture of the place of origin

Crest-helps-sell-wine-Giacomo-Conterno-Francia-Barolo

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Montalcino, Brunello, Casato Prime Donne

Thoes who haven’t got a blazon might run to an expert and get one created for their name or their winery. In fact the charm that binds nobility and history, that mixture of mystery and richness that a coat of arms signifies, is still very strong and  so a crest helps sell wine. So this has its effect and not only on the simplest of people who think of the Prince Charming who lives in a castle with its drawbridge, but also on those with a degree and great salary. The noble coat of arms gives a bottle great prestige.

This is the surprising revelation of the second survey Spot & Web carried out with the WOA method (Web Opinion Analysis) through monitoring the most important social media networks and on a sample of 500 people between 25 and 60 years of age, analyzed by a pool of psychologists coordinated by the psychologist Serenella Salomoni.

Crest-helps-sell-wine-Ornellaia

So here is what influences the consumer: the blazon (26%), the name (22%), the image of the place of origin (17%), the label (14%) and the bottle (11%).

Without of course diminishing the value of the quality of the wine, of the appellation or of the brand, this survey has evidenced how important it is to show off the aristocracy of the producer and of the castle, villa or monumental building where the wine is produced. Here in fact is a list of the favourite labels: first of all Barolo Francia di Giacomo Conterno , in this label the blazon is on the background, in second place  Ornellaia by Tenuta dell’Ornellaia with an image of the original building and the noble crown ( respectively with 21 and 19% of votes). Follows Amarone Classico Calcarole di Guerrieri Rizzardi, and in this case too there is the coat of arms and the drawing of the estate (17% of preferences). Barolo Monprivato di Mascarello Giuseppe e Figlio with a very large coloured crest. In the  Sassicaia from Tenuta San Guido there is the Marchesi Incisa della Rocchetta compass rose.

British Fizz: Her Majesty's Spumate

While the English producers are still looking for a name of their bubbly the Americans have already named it horribly: British Fizz

British-Fizz-Nyetimber

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Chianti Superiore, Agriturismo, Fattoria del Colle

British Fizz …..  sounds awful and make you think of fizzy hair. Then there are the FIZZ drinks, blended with lemon and soda. We all know Gin Fizz

So after thinking about this for a long time the sparkling wine producers could have chosen a name to give dignity to the bottle instead of a name used previously for the effervescence of soda.

Mamma mia, and to think that the English bubbles are very expensive.  Fizz what?

Not very convincing, in fact I would say the opposite of any marketing logic, it the way that the term has been chosen. This story is told in a nice article on The Drinks Business. It seems that it all started with the wine list at the Jones Wood pub in New York, this was photographed and posted on Twitter on the 5^th of January. The list itemized 6 British Fizz followed by 11 Champagne and sparkling wines among which a Lambrusco. After this incident Bob Lindo chairman of the British association of producers UKVA declare to want to register the name FIZZ so that it becomes the name of the English appellation of sparkling wines produced with the metodo classico. In fact the project is fuller one as there would be then 3 English DOP regions:

British Fizz
British Sparkling
Wine from Great Britain. 

British-Fizz-Gusbourne

The Duchess of Cornwall, president of the UKVA commented Bob Lindo’s issue with a regal and British line <<new name needs to be found to better describe English sparkling wine>> suggesting a better and more representative name. A few days later however while the controversies were all over the press, the previous names seemed much more suitable than FIZZ. Particularly the term “Britagne” combining Britannia and Champagne.

Women and wine 10 false clichés

Julien Miguel the most social wine maker in the world shows us 10 common clichés regarding women and wine that must be exposed, 1^st point they buy the most wine

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Orcia Doc, Fattoria del Colle

Social Vignerons the blog by Julien is one of the most influent the world over and his followers are worthy of the quality of his articles: 254.825 on Twitter, 14.445 son Facebook, 40.058 on  Instagram, 7.334 on LinkedIn … practically all of those who love reading about wine online.

Lady-Sommelier-Karen-Casagrande

The posts that are published by this French winemaker, who turned to the web while in New Zealand, to then return to Europe last year, are always very interesting.  The article << Women and Wine? Let’s shrug off dusty clichés!>>  is to be framed. Read it and then continue scouring his blog because Social Vignerons will fascinate you.

So let us see which are these myths to be exposed regarding wines and women that Julien Miguel re-proposes from the graph by Feminalise the wine competition that takes place in Beaune in Burgundy –this year it will be on April 6th – and regards 4.000 labels from all over the world blind tasted by a jury of 750 female experts from 18 nations

1. Men buy more wine than women– INCORRECT Women are the 1st buyers of wine in the world. In the US: Women make 83% of wine purchase UK: 80%     France: 70%         Switzerland: 60% Australia: 57%
2. Women only drink white and sweet wines-INCORRECT They drink mostly Red. On the American continent and Europe, women drink: Red 57%, White 30%, Rosé 13%

3. Men drink all the wine, women wash the glasses -INCORRECT: Women drink more wine than men More than 51% of wine drinkers are women everywhere in the world. 85% of them think that wine is a moment of pleasure and sharing
   

   Women-and-wine

4. Women don’t know how to buy wine. WRONG: They buy wine mostly for its ability to pair perfectly with food. Women’s choice is driven by variety, region or country, label and suitability with food. While men’s wine selection is more status-driven, drawn to particular brands with price factor. Overall, nearly 1/5 women that are highly involved, meaning knowledgeable about wine, have an interest in the category and/or consider themselves collectors
5. Wines made by women are for women FALSE: There is no specific wine for women

Wine Lady: the 3 ladies of Italian wine in the USA

Wine Lady: a title for Monica Larner, Karin O’Keefe, and Alison Napjus, tasters of Italian wines for Robert Parker-Wine Advocate, Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator

Wine-Lady-Monica-Larner

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

If the American wine market is not entirely dominated by women, but we are nearly there. Let me introduce you to 3 different Wine Lady, the women who taste Italian wines for the main USA wine magazines. They are great experts, young, intelligent, open and hard workers as they work without rest.  Monica Larner, Kerin O’Keefe, Alison Napjus are the ones who give the ratings to the Italian wines for the most influential magazines on the American market Robert Parker-Wine Advocate, Wine Enthusiast and  Wine Spectator. Their ratings open the doors to Canadian monopolies and get wines into the wine lists of the most exclusive restaurants; they also help wineries in starting rapports with new importers. In other words they help in launching towards success.

Let’s get to know these three wine women better

Kerin-O’Keefe-Wine-Lady

MONICA LARNER

Monica Larner is from California but lives in Rome. She comes from a family where wine and cinema cohabit and it was during filming of the TV series “World War II” that she arrived in Italy in 1983. Her life continued between the family winery in the Ballard Canyon in Santa Barbara (California) and journalism that she studied in the universities of Boston and New York. In her professional life there are some experiences with daily newspapers such as La Repubblica and The Herald Tribune, the AIS sommelier course, many books on Italy and an immense photo archive of about 50.000 images.