Gallo wheels out French wine with bit of whimsy

[Gifted Gourmet]

the article

E.&J. Gallo Winery is introducing its Red Bicyclette wines to the U.S. market next month.  The wine is grown and bottled in southern France, but the packaging and marketing are decidedly American.

A cartoon of a French fellow on a bicycle graces the label. He's towing a dog on a leash (animals seem to sell wine these days) and he has a basket full of baguettes on the front.  Instead of all that confusing French wine jargon, the label simply lists the vintage date and varietal -- a syrah, a merlot and a chardonnay are offered.

Red Bicyclette "a French wine that is approachable and speaks to Americans in a language that requires no translation."  The Gallo ad copy also calls Red Bicyclette "a fun and approachable alternative to stodgy French wines."

related article from Wine Spectator

This appears to be only one answer to the problems affecting the French wine industry and Gallo is hoping to make the situation much more bearable. They have apparently removed the wine jargon which is common to French wines and hope that this will improve sales. The labels and the humor on them may also appeal to American senses of humor.

What is your impression of this move? Is it likely to help gain acceptance of French wine or is it possibly just another "sales gimmick"?

[KatieLoeb]

Well, it's obviously another sales gimmick, but the question is, will it sell the wine? Are the customers that are tempted by easy to read labels in English that have clever names/cute pictures like Fat Bastard, Toasted Head or Smoking Loon, going to be put off because the wine in the bottle is French? I doubt it. I think they'll use the usual finely tuned sense of discretion they always do when they choose wine and say to themselves, "I like the Name/the Label", and "It's under $8! Cool!"

I will be curious to see what the market share is after the tv and radio ads and the full page four color ads in major magazines (and I dont mean the Wine Spectator) roll out. If it worked for Arbor Mist and Turning Leaf it could work for anything. I believe this practice is called Tageted Marketing.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I think they'll use the usual finely tuned sense of discretion they always do when they choose wine and say to themselves, "I like the Name/the Label", and "It's under $8! Cool!"

Now that is really hysterically funny .. but has the ring of veracity hidden just beneath the words!

[Jason Perlow]

Willie Gluckstern's wines have the WACKIEST illustrations on them. However unlike Gallo, his wines are actually really good:

http://www.wineavenger.com/import.asp

(Click on the flags to see the wacky wine labels)

[Gifted Gourmet]

What a lovely website! Thanks, Jason! I enjoyed the description of the Gluckstern's wedding in the cheese department:

Mr. Jenkins also blessed them with a rare unpasteurized Camembert, which he laid on the floor for the bridegroom to smash with his foot, like a ceremonial wineglass in a Jewish wedding.

[Jason Perlow]

Yeah, he's a wacky guy. I've been to his wine courses, they are excellent.

[KatieLoeb]

Willie Gluckstern's wines have the WACKIEST illustrations on them. However unlike Gallo, his wines are actually really good:

http://www.wineavenger.com/import.asp

(Click on the flags to see the wacky wine labels)

Interesting. So Mr. Gluckstern is having these wines bottled/labelled "for him" by winemakers all over the globe? I've had other wines from Josef Bayer, who is producing the Austrian Weissburgunder and they're pretty good. I'm just wondering what would lead a winemaker of decent stand alone reputation to sell off some of their juice (that they could just as easily bottle for themselves with THEIR name on the label) to become "unknown wine" in another country?

Don't get me wrong. I've never tried any of the Gluckstern wines so I have no idea if they're good or bad. In fact I took a wine class with Willie Gluckstern several years ago found him to be an engaging and entertaining instructor. My question is a more general one. I just wonder if the dregs of the wine, or the equivalent of overcropped, mediocre CA Central Coast jug wines are what are being sold to be bottled under a label that can't be traced back to the actual winemaker.

Some folks think me cynical. I think the wine glass is twice as big as it needs to be. Call me a realist.

[Jason Perlow]

I've sampled a number of Gluckstern's imports -- all of them great tasting and good values. I know for every single one of those wines, he's visited every single one of those wineries IN PERSON, and god knows, he spends an obscene amount of time in Italy and Germany and Austria, and many of the things he tastes just don't make the cut. You gotta understand something about Gluckstern -- he's a lunatic. Obsessive about finding good values in wine and totally into debunking the crap about the industry and is totally non pretentious. So if you have the opportunity to try any of his wine, you should.

[KatieLoeb]

I've sampled a number of Gluckstern's imports -- all of them great tasting and good values. I know for every single one of those wines, he's visited every single one of those wineries IN PERSON. You gotta understand something about Gluckstern -- he's a lunatic. Obsessive about finding good values in wine and totally into debunking the crap about the industry and is totally non pretentious. So if you have the opportunity to try any of his wine, you should.

Jason:

I didn't mean to offend you. I agree with absolutely everything you've said, and I certainly didn't mean to impugn your palate or good taste. My question was more about the motivations of the winemakers themselves. If the wine they have is their very best, wouldn't they want their own name on the label? If they have a well established reputation under their own label, why be "ghost winemaker" for someone else? Why sell their stuff to go across an ocean, in a bottle whose label doesn't make it clear that it's their viticultural knowhow/winemaking skill in the bottle? If it is some of their best stuff and they've somehow been convinced to sell it, wouldn't it add considerably to the expense of the wine and not still be the good value that Mr. Gluckstern hopes to bring to the savvy consumer? That's what I'm asking.

That said, I'd be very interested to try some of his private label wines. As I said, I thought he was a very knowlegeable instructor and particularly passionate about good value wines. Are the wines available anywhere but in his retail wine shop in NYC? Do you know if they're sold to other states?

[Jason Perlow]

Katie I took no offense -- I guess what I meant to say was that whatever Gluckstern is bringing in, is going to be a good value.

As I understand it from conversations with Willie about the wineries he deals with, most of them are relatively unknown and have little or no exposure at all in the US -- in most cases he is dealing with really small wineries, who don't have the resources to get their wines in the US by themselves, for whatever reason -- be it poor exposure or just that their wines are so esoteric they aren't of interest to your average volume wine buyer. But Gluckstern is nutty, he's into these weird esoteric kinds of wines that use varietals most people have never heard of -- so he puts the wacky labels on them to make them more accessible.

I know he sells to a lot of restaurants in NYC and I think he does have some representation on Long Island, and I think in Connecticut. Last time we spoke he was working on getting his stuff into various stores in NJ. He may even have a way to get them to PA.

[KatieLoeb]

Katie I took no offense -- I guess what I meant to say was that whatever Gluckstern is bringing in, is going to be a good value.

As I understand it from conversations with Willie about the wineries he deals with, most of them are relatively unknown and have little or no exposure at all in the US -- in most cases he is dealing with really small wineries, who don't have the resources to get their wines in the US by themselves, for whatever reason -- be it poor exposure or just that their wines are so esoteric they aren't of interest to your average volume wine buyer. But Gluckstern is nutty, he's into these weird esoteric kinds of wines that use varietals most people have never heard of -- so he puts the wacky labels on them to make them more accessible.

I know he sells to a lot of restaurants in NYC and I think he does have some representation on Long Island, and I think in Connecticut. Last time we spoke he was working on getting his stuff into various stores in NJ. He may even have a way to get them to PA.

OK - all making more sense now. I also realize that just because I've heard of some obscure Austrian winemaker, it doesn't make him the Julio Gallo of Eastern Europe.

And yes - bringing in the more esoteric and wackier wines/lesser known varietals from slightly less geographically desireable real estate and much smaller producers is a great approach to building a portfolio of good value wines. In fact it's a very similar strategy to that of Moore Brothers, my former employers.

[CtznCane]

Willie Gluckstern's wines have the WACKIEST illustrations on them. However unlike Gallo, his wines are actually really good:

[

Gallo's wines run the gamut from cheap to expensive. They do however make a good number of wines that will hold their own against any competition. Yes, they do have low end wines but even there, for their price point they are usually decent compared to the competition at the different price levels.

Gallo has been fighting for years to outgrow that 'screw top' - 'jug wine' image that people have of them. Even then though, for their price range, they didn't succeed by being bad.