Time to embrace the uncool.
Some brands just market well. Perhaps they hire brand professionals, use social media well, who knows. Labels count, branding is important. If a wine label hits a niche, finds a groove of popularity, it snowballs. Wine consumers seem less impressed by vineyard age, barrel selection, and winemaker skill than they do cliche, label design, and on-trend grape varieties.
Take a label such as Coldstream Hills. It has a history, connections to important people, wine critics no less. It is famous for Pinot Noir, a variety continuously on point. It sits in the sought after Mornington Peninsula. The plantings are small, the cellar door quaint. It is subtle in its marketing, it is a boutique, and very popular. It ticks all the boxes that make a wine label ‘cool’.
Coldstream Hills is part of the TWE conglomerate. One of the largest wine companies in the world. Coldstream Hills is about is boutique as CocaCola. It is for nothing but profit, has no autonomy, it is part of a gigantic generic corporate machine. Nevermind that, the marketing genius behind the label gives the appearance a small, family-owned business that produces small quantities of incredible Pinot. Is that terroir or cost savings on the palate?
If there is a wine company that has never been on-trend, it is Brown Brothers. Founded in 1889, it remains in the family. Honest, real, history. Maybe the location puts the drinkers off? Milawa is certainly no Burgundy. No one is knocking down doors for the next big thing out of the King Valley. Another reason could be the sheer volume of inexpensive wine produced at Brown Brothers. Once you have a reputation for cheap, it is hard to turn it around.
Maybe, Brown Brothers just won’t employ the marketing types that make labels that appeal to consumers? Brown Brothers might just not care about these things.
Once you are clear from the fog of inexpensive bottles you find the Patricia range of wines from Brown Brothers. The Chardonnay has always been a standout, but over recent years the Shiraz has been outstanding. Brown Brothers have access to some of the best vineyards in Victoria, and all the premium fruit ends up here.
Considering you can pick the Patricia up for under $60AUS, it reflects excellent value for money. The hipsters can have their on-trend wines, for me, quality trumps marketing, and the entire range of Patricia has quality in spades.
