Patrick Schabers blog The Lonely Marketer was created for the small company marketing manager - it’s a excellent blog for those with great marketing ideas, limited time and budget.

Patrick had a chance encounter with a Rosenblum Vintners Cuvée bottle of wine that took him outside of his marketing world to learn more about how other industries market to their unique target markets.

He wrote a post earlier in the year about his discovery of a “peel-off” label (he’s since learned that the correct name is a “Wine Find” label). His post drew quite a bit of attention peeking not only his interest, but the interest of many readers about how a winery markets their brand. Wanting to learn more about how wineries approach marketing, Patrick sent an email to Roseblum Cellars and Michael Kohne, their Director of Marketing, who was nice enough to respond and take the time for an interview.

Many thanks to Michael for his thorough answers and great insight into the world of wine! Here was our interview:

Michael, thank you for taking the time for an interview! I appreciate it. I’m a big fan of Rosenblum wines and have been looking forward to learning more about your marketing efforts. Without giving away all of your marketing plan strategies, could you give an overview of how you market a wine or winery for those who aren’t familiar with marketing in your industry?

“Ultimately great wine is and should be about what is in the bottle. This being said, with so many bottles available in the marketplace we marketers have to target consumers by conveying a message of quality (so those consumers choose your wine over the competitors). Wines produced domestically have certain consumer indicators like the grape variety(ies), vintage, regions, etc conveyed through print. Outside of those qualifiers producers must package the wine to evoke their message. Label shapes, fonts, images (such as a winery icon), paper stock, foiling, colors and additional text-based classifications (i.e. Reserve, Bottle Numbers, Estate Grown, etc) all help convey a story and should hopefully subconsciously market your brand.”

From a marketing standpoint, how do you go about deciding what a wine bottle will look like and how it will appeal to its drinkers?

“One has to acknowledge their target audience. Generally speaking, ‘grocery brands’ which look to move volume at lower prices have to stand out on a shelf. These brands look for pull through design and catchy names (and animals which these days seem the rage). While a boutique brand, with a small amount of wine to sell at higher prices, tend to focus on traditional and historical aspects likening their product to some great old-world Winery and generally have a less-is-more philosophy. At Rosenblum we have products that fit both categories and we have to create a different “feel” for each, while at the same time creating some consistency through the whole line so as not to dilute what one can do for the other in terms of brand loyalties.”

Can you tell us a little about the “wine find” label on your Vintners Cuvée that grabbed my attention and how you decided to implement that into your label design?

“Wine find is a tear-off portion of a wine’s back label that allows consumers to tangibly hold the wine’s exact information. This perforated portion is a particular feature that benefits a winery like Rosenblum where there are multiple bottlings of the same grape but use different vineyards, blends or proprietary names. Take for example Zinfandel where Rosenblum makes 20-some-odd bottlings, the winery was at a certain point receiving calls from all over the country inquiring about somehow acquiring (whether buying direct or through a local retailer) a certain wine which consumer had had at a restaurant. Of course only remembering that it was a Zinfandel our service department was not able to pinpoint the exact wine the consumer was searching for. Now, with the ‘wine find’ feature the winery is better ensured (on a retail level) to give the consumer better service by making sure they acquire (or get information on) the exact wine they’re inquiring about.”

Rosenblum Cellars produces over 40 different wines, including Zinfandel, Syrah and Petite Sirah varieties, to name a few. Will you be using the label for each variety or is there a certain market you’re appealing to and will only place it on certain bottles?

“The winery uses the ‘wine find’ technology (as it was printing technology that allowed this feature to be cost effective enough for the industry) on most all of their wines. The exception in our case pertains to our Reserves. At a certain point the consumer is savvy enough to know what he/she has purchased and if they are buying $45 to $55 bottles of wine ($100-$150 on various restaurant wine lists) then they are at the point of knowing what that wine is and have no problem communicating which wine it is that they want.”

What do you hope to accomplish by using part of your bottle for the peel-off “wine find” label? Are their goals and tracking methods you’ve attached to the effort?

“The winery feels the “wine-find” is a general service – both for our customer as well as internally. Currently we do not track “wine-find” instances, although we hear feedback from service and sales all the time. Of course, considering our production level (100K+ cases) my guess is that only a tiny percentage of folks have used “wine find” although that small percentage is better than nothing!”

Lastly, where do you see the wine bottle design going? Does the future hold more unique marketing efforts such as your label?

“The question of bottle design can only be answered by individual wineries and what they want to accomplish, as well as what consumers will allow to happen (via their buying power). Synthetic closures, waxed capsules, screw caps and wine in a box are just some of the packaging choices on the horizon. Some are better than others but again only if the consumer is going to buy the product will it make producers look to change. As for Rosenblum, we are fairly progressive. We recently changed labels in an effort to organize our vast portfolio, and also use only synthetic closures to avoid any TCH issues (a mold issue from corks, commonly referred to as “corkiness”, that taints wine). The synthetic corks we use are particularly advanced and come from a company called Nomacork, but now that is a whole other interview… “

Interview by Patrick Schaber www.lonelymarketer.com

120km from Cape Town, in the heart of the largest wine producing region is South Africa, lays the small town of Worcester. With a population of 78,000 what they lack in numbers, they make up for in community spirit.

Worcester is the centre for the hearing and sight impaired in South Africa with several world-renown schools and institutes providing life skills training and crucial support systems.

From the world’s first Braille wine bottle to the Pioneer Printing Press, a world leader in Braille printing technology, their vision is to provide equal access to product information for all consumers, including the blind and partially sighted.

Solely for use by certified wines from the area, the classic claret-shaped bottle, in both white and red wine versions, will have, moulded into the glass in Braille script, the words ‘100% Worcester, South Africa’. Although foreign wineries like Chapoutier and local ones like Bon Cap have used Braille on their labels, this may well be the first wine bottle with such script engraved.

Consol Glass has contributed to the project by producing the bottle mould at no extra cost.

As a bonus, a percentage of the income from the sale of the wines which have been filled in the new Braille bottle will go directly to the Institute for the Blind.

By Mike Carter.