Le Vinglish Blog

Elephant on a Tightrope

vinglish — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:15:52 +0000

Here’s one we really like - ‘Elephant on a Tightrope‘ - a French wine range branded for anglo markets - nicely tongue in cheek with some relevant cause related marketing thrown in for good measure. Are they capitalizing perhaps on the strong franchise elephants have with females (many female collectors of “elephantalia”)? Not dumbo at all…

Google translation - No Go!

vinglish — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:26:15 +0000

It’s not just on websites and in tasting notes where the funniest translations can be found.

What about the following email shot we recently received :

“Dear Sir/Madam,
I feel great nervous for my disturbing email but actually excavating potential client is my duty”

Has “Google Translation” struck again? Please, please don’t do use this tool.

Tearing a strip off French wines?

vinglish — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:20:22 +0000

Here’s an interesting one, but we are cheating again..we’ve not yet found this clever feature on a French wine label. This new world wine label features a tear off strip so that, if you enjoy the wine and want to remember it for future, you can tear off and keep its identity tag as an aide-memoire. Simple innovation - To be found on a bottle of French wine anytime soon?… please let us know!

Cachet - splash it all over?

vinglish — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:40:39 +0000

“Cachet” is the name of a wine brand launched last year by Castel initially targetting the UK market - 3 vins de pays varietal wines : Viognier/Chardonnay, Shiraz/Cabernet and Pinot Noir Rose, all accessibly priced and stylishly presented. Apparently the brand specs were drafted by a marketing agency in collaboration with no less then 3 very high profile MWs, and the concept and packaging extensively researched in the UK before launch . All good stuff, but we’re not entirely sure about that name……. ‘Cachet’ sounds a tad too conceited for today’s UK market, and to be honest sounds more like a product for splashing all over. But what can we say, it was all thoroughly researched. Time will tell…

…Pouilly funny

vinglish — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:36:06 +0000

We found some interesting translations supplied by producers from a prestigious French wine area for their 2008 London Wine Fair booklet (..and yes we do know what they meant to say, really) :

“Freshness and smoothness let much mineral feelings..”

“The dress is yellow now weak. We find side crystallized citrus fruit…”

“In mouth is delicate, grain wine suave…”

“Vinification: just feel the Art… Viticulture: just help nature to grow golden grappes…”

“Very exotic wine to smell and very fruity in the mouth, it’s due to the grass.”

“This wine is appropriate very well for fish of sea, snails of Burgundy, frogs thighs,…”

Powerful wine brands 2008..France, Nul Points

vinglish — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:26:25 +0000

Independent brand valuation consultancy, Intangible Business, recently published their third annual report on “The world’s most powerful spirits & wine brands 2008″. As far as (still) wine brands are concerned, 17 are listed as “power brands” …9 of which are from the U.S., and 5 are from Down Under. Hmm…..not one from France. The writer comments “France is one of the world’s greatest wine producers but it is missing out on valuable opportunities by failing to tap into a segment of the market that the new world wines have excelled in….” read the report

Wine without the intimidation

vinglish — Mon, 26 May 2008 11:06:54 +0000

OK, so this is not strickly speaking French wine marketing-related altho’ there’s a French brand in the range.. Seattle, US-based, Click Wine Group, aim to take “the intimidation out of wine with a selection of wines with easy to pronounce names and appealing, consumer friendly packaging”. As easy as that really… Check out the range on : http://www.clickwinegroup.com/cwg/wine_portfolio.php.

We vote for ‘Mad Dogs & Englishman’….

Marketing Gold

vinglish — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:27:07 +0000

French wine brand, Piat d’Or, is selling at a rate of many millions of bottles per year in the UK. Not a bad performance for a brand first conceived by IDV (now Diageo) nearly 30 years ago. Why do les anglais toujours adorent Le Piat d’Or? ..Consistent marketing investment, e.g. staying close to the consumer and evolving the communication and packaging so the brand stays relevant and, above all, paying close attention to the fill to ensure the wines meet mass market taste preferences. Not to mention the clout of Diageo with the trade…

Introducing the Wine USB key - incredible :-)

vinglish — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:18:19 +0000

Go to : http://www.usbwine.com

Summer is Morning!

vinglish — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:48:46 +0000

Recent news item on a wine négociant’s otherwise very good new website..

“Summer is Morning - You are looking for fresh and fruity tastes!’.

Er, right.