What the Wine World Needs Now
All too often I think the Community of Wine is perceived as being, and sometimes is, stuffy and serious. I also think that most attempts by members of the Community of Wine to be funny tend to fall a bit flat. They tend to take the form of someone with a Southern Hemisphere accent doing something silly, spoofing news and events, geeky and esoteric references or, my favorite, a liberal dose of good old fashion European nudity. When it comes to comedy, what I tend to find funny is people simply saying what must be said in the most direct way possible.
Programs such as The Simpsons and The Family Guy, among others, have demonstrated that the Cartoon can elevate simple observations and commentary, brutally clear language, to hilarious heights. Something about animation allows it to soften a truth or at least dull its edge. Wine related humor often lacks the tickling sarcasm that cartoons effectively deliver. Until Now. A friend forwarded this link to a U-tube cartoon that I think is exactly the sort of thing the wine biz needs right now; something to laugh at and an opportunity to hear something true that it might not want said.
[Your Name Here]
3 Comments
Reader Comments (3)
Jerry
There is a difficult to reconcile juxtaposition, in the world of wine, between being serious and geeky in order to produce the best possible wine and the diametric opposite which (presumably) will attract and retain new (neophyte) followers/consumers.
Wine seems to be the only business that is hung up this. Why not follow a "build it and they will come" approach which presupposes that those who are going to be serious about wine (thus appreciating the product and paying the high prices for truly quality stuff) will meet the producer halfway and learn what they need to and should learn to be discerning consumers.
Any field will have affected, supercilious enthusiasts. That's a reflection of the personalities in the cross section of the population.
Personally, I would not worry about the perceptions (however founded or not) and just present the product, without some silly hangups over the complexity or nuances of the subj4ect matter. The stuff is what it is. It requires a little learnin'
We can reach out to the population win an intelligent manner and not give in to the dumbing-down of everything in our culture (a la "Idiocracy").
Arthur,
As always your comments are very much welcome.
The fundamental problem with the 'build it and they will come" approach is the intensity of the competition. Simply bottling a wine and hangin a sign up at a Tasting Room isn't enough to sustain a business.
The national renown of California, in general, and many of its regions, specifically, might make the "build it" approach work; consumers were "comming" anyway.
Here is Oregon our situation is very different. Even after 40 years of production, and now 20 years after David Lett's 1975 South Block Reserve successfuly competed with Burgundy (on thier turf none the less), we still find ourselves answering the question "they make wine in Oregon"?
While I certainly don't think that makes it necassary to "dumb down" the message I do think it requires producers to be not only creative but active in thier marketing efforts. I can't fault a producer for "dumbing" things down if that is the only way they think thay can survive as a business.
To me the best solution is the "onion" approach; layers of messaging that appeal to a diverse group of attitutdes and knowledge levels. This however tends to lack focus and has its own set of problems.
Went to Youtube but it said the link had been removed by the author :(