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38th Week, 2005 /
Louisville, Kentucky - "Thomas
Edison's "sideline" was his phonograph record
players,
Howard Hughes had his movie studio and Spruce Goose,
Nathan
B. Stubblefield, the Kentucky wireless inventor, had his
firewire and watermelons,
now "it's
RICHARD BRANSON's turn," says, author, Troy Cory, -- he has
added WINE to his family of Virgin companies . . . Virgin
Vines!"
More
Story
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This week's TVInews person of the week, Richard Branson is about to conquer the alcohol market with his new motto "Unscrew it, let's do it," the wines would project a hip image counter to wine's stodgy reputation. • • "Wine, like life, is meant to be enjoyed," said Branson, the man behind the ubiquitous Virgin Vine brand. "All the pomp and ceremony currently associated with wine just gets in the way of enjoying it." • • The Virgin Group mogul, turned-airline impresario launched his Virgin Vines to give the 21 to 34-year-olds something to communicate about over a bottle of wine - quality without the snobbery. • • The Louisville, Kentucky based liquor giant, Brown-Forman Corp. and British billionaire Richard Branson announced on September 11, 2005, that it planned to introduce Virgin Vines, a wine label with a strong hint of fascination to consumers around the world. • • "The idea is to provide young drinkers with an option that removes the confusion and intimidation of wine category," says a Virgin Vines spokesman. The new wines comes from grapes sourced from around Mendocino, California • • The new label's red and white wines began reaching store shelves nationally on 9/11 amid a kickoff celebration in New York, including an evening party complete with women dancing on wine barrels. Its backers said the wine -- with the motto "Unscrew it, let's do it" -- would project a hip image counter to wine's refined reputation. • • "Being associated with Richard Branson is going to be a plus," Fredrikson said. "He's got a pretty good track record in everything he touches." • • Virgin Vines feature a white chardonnay and a red shiraz from the California vineyards of Brown-Forman Wines, a division of Louisville-based liquor giant Brown-Forman. The wines sell for $9.99 per bottle, or a four pack with smaller, plastic bottles at $8.99. • • The new venture is in a hot-selling price category. Wines in the $9 to $10 price range have had double-digit sales growth in the U.S. this year. Brown-Forman Wines will market the new product and it expects to sell several hundred thousand cases in the first year. • • "We expect this will be a leading California wine brand within three years," said Brown-Forman brand director Don Freytag. • • The wine bottles feature painted labels and cork-free screw tops with a pull tab. On the backs of the bottles, Virgin Vines pokes fun at connoisseurs who overanalyze wine: "Dare to enjoy this wine without dashes of pretentiousness or hints of snootiness. Virgin Vines believes wine should be all about having fun and loving the taste ... not waxing poetically about meaningless wine-speak and food pairings." • • Fredrikson said such swipes would be an attention grabber. "We have so much folderol in the business that it does turn off a lot of potential consumers," he said. • • Brown-Forman Wines will market the new product and it expects to sell several hundred thousand cases in the first year. • • Brown-Forman, the maker of Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort and other liquor and wine brands, approached Branson about 18 months ago about teaming up on the venture. "One of the ideas was, let's take advantage of this wonderful trademark and launch a wine," Freytag said. • • The cork-free tops -- used by some other wine makers -- and plastic four packs will be appealing. "There's a lot of people in the country who don't own a corkscrew, that why Brown-Forman plans to put millions of dollars behind the Virgin brand in advertising, " he continued. • • That includes ads in alternative publications that resemble singles ads. One such ad reads: "Full-bodied Shiraz desires hookup. No commitments, baggage or corkscrews . . . ". • • The combination of Brown-Forman's distribution and marketing muscle and the famous Virgin brand will make the wine industry "stand up and pay attention," said Jon Fredrikson, a wine industry consultant in the San Francisco area. • • /// _________ More Articles • Converging News 382005 / TeleCom Buy Outs, Spinoffs and Asset Seizure Boom Respectfully
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