Hip Tastes Blog

Screw This
filed under: Ramblings

As if the British-based conglomerate Virgin Group didn't already have it all, they've added a wine label, Virgin Vines, to their stable of travelmeetsmobilemeets-
entertainmentmeets...stuffy sommeliers and high end stemware? Hardly. Mogul Richard Branson's latest venture, launched during New York Fashion Week last month, features two varietals--Chardonnay and Shiraz--in screw top-topped faddish packaging aimed at the under-30 set. With a rather poser-ish (sorry, Rich) Flash-animated website aggressively aimed at denoucing all snobbery associated with wine, the whole thing smacks more of a marketing gimmick than a serious vinous effort. It's probably no surprise, then, that that's exactly what it is.

Here's a sampling of the kind of defiant-and-horny-7th-grader-in-the-chat-room-type propaganda they've got online (about the Chardonnay): "Cool and crisp with a serious rebellious side. With an ultra-clean finish, the perfect wine to serve your love in a romantic outdoor setting, or to order for that soon to be "new friend" standing at the end of the bar." Right. As if that wasn't enough, they've also transformed the usual wine vocabulary into their own prepubescent gibberish. A sampling, in lieu of the traditional definition of the wine term, "complex": "A non-desirable trait in a partner. Usually leads to lots of serious talks and heart-wrenching debates." No further comment required on that one.

In spite of all this ranting, I've got to give them props for attempting to bring wine to a bigger audience. However, I wish they would do it in a way less embarassing for the rest of the wine community, which is probably at this moment wincing that 13-year-olds now associate wine with picking up chicks in bars, casual dating, and pseudo misogyny. But hey, with a tagline that says "Unscrew it, let's do it" what do you expect?

www.virginvines.com

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Posted by Courtney on October 7, 2005 01:45 PM