What could be better than seven daughters? Would eight be better? Here is Seven Daughters wine. It is made with — you guessed it — seven varietals of wine. Is this better than one or a few great varietals? Would 12 be better still? We wonder if this is a good idea for making superior wine, a good idea for marketing, both, or neither. We haven’t tasted the wine, but we do think this makes for a good, clean logo and a good theme. The website is about as pretty as the second prettiest daughter. This wine is bottled by Monterey Wine Co. of King City, California and seems to be marketed by Terlato Wine Group.
Continue Reading Leave a CommentDISCUS Comment; Top 6 Things to Know
It is likely that all beer, wine and spirits labels will change dramatically in the near future. TTB has been working on new rules since CSPI and other groups submitted a petition in 2003. The new rules would require a “Serving Facts” panel on every container. This panel would include a lot more information, such as the typical serving size, number of servings per container, calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat. Because this is a big, controversial change, TTB has received more than 18,000 public comments during the past few years. There are far too many comments for most people to review, and so we will highlight and summarize the most noteworthy comments here. The most recent proposal and comments are here. This is comment 13 in a series; to see others, click on the “serving facts” tag below. The Distilled Spirits Council of the US (DISCUS) is a trade association representing spirits producers and marketers. DISCUS submitted a 14-page comment, plus 6 pages of footnotes and a 61-page survey making these points:
- Some DISCUS members market wine and beer, so DISCUS has a broad perspective.
- DISCUS opposes the proposed Serving Facts panel, whether required or optional. It will not provide sufficient information unless it explains that a standard drink contains 0.6 ounces of alcohol, and explains standard serving...
Tags: policy, serving facts/allergens
Erythritol in Slender Wine
FDA said Truvia looks okay on December 17, 2008 and TTB approved this wine, with erythritol, a mere two days later. It is difficult to distinguish among erythritol, stevia, Truvia, rebiana and many other new sweeteners hitting the market. Erythritol seems to be a component of Truvia. Fooducate says erythritol is:
a sugar alcohol, a carbohydrate found naturally in various fruits and vegetables. Used in both Purevia and Truvia. It helps them mimic the texture and mouthfeel of table sugar.
Rebiana is:
the trade name for a stevia-derived sweetener developed jointly by the Coca Cola Company and Cargill. According to Cargill, rebiana is “the best tasting part of the stevia leaf.”
Truvia is:
Cargill’s consumer brand of Rebiana-based sweetener packs.
And Stevia is:
a South American Plant from the sunflower family, grown and used by locals for its sweet tasting leaves. Stevia Extracts are 200-300 times sweeter than sugar, but contain no carbohydrates (calories).
Cargill, finally, on its Truvia FAQ explains that erythritol “is a sugar alcohol, a carbohydrate found naturally in several fruits. Erythritol doesn’t lead to tooth decay, is safe for people with diabetes and in reasonable amounts does not lead to gastrointestinal side effects (in other words, no gas or bloating).”
Continue Reading Leave a CommentTags: ingredients, policy
Beware the Famous Name
Michael-Scott wines (above) have been around since 1998. Then, from out of nowhere, everything changed in March of 2005. That’s when The Office debuted on NBC, with Steve Carell in the lead role as the hapless Michael Scott. There is no word on whether this hit show has been good or bad for the winery, in Sebastopol, California. In a similar manner, it looks like Montecastelli Wine, Inc. started using the Palin brand name in 2008. Seven months later, the brand took on a whole other personality when Sen. John McCain selected Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate. It was not necessarily the good kind of publicity. Serious Eats reports:
“It was our best selling wine before (the V.P. announcement),” said Chris Tavelli, owner of Yield Wine Bar, which has offered Palin Syrah, a certified organic wine from Chile, by the glass since July. But after Sen. John McCain tagged Sarah Palin as his running mate, sales of the wine with the conservative’s inverted name plummeted — not surprising in famously liberal San Francisco.
The Palin Syrah is organically grown in Chile.
Continue Reading Leave a CommentTags: famous, organic/vegan/green
Beer with Vitamins
TTB is unlikely to allow “Beer with Vitamins” anytime soon. And yet every couple of months, we hear a report of another “beer with vitamins.” Most often, it’s based on flimsy evidence. But every now and then, something very close or on the mark will turn up. Stampede Light (above) shows a beer sometimes purported to contain vitamins. The approved labels don’t mention vitamins. But the advertising strongly hints that this beer contains added vitamins. The website (as of March 2009) refers to doctors, vitamins, health, and shows a person doing one-handed pushups. It probably went much further, before 2007. Forbes reports that Larry Schwartz:
launched Stampede in November 2005 by marketing it as “beer with horsepower” and trumpeting its added vitamins in print ads and radio spots in Texas–and on his MySpace page. A short time later he received a letter from the Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau, part of the U.S. Treasury Department. The TTB says health-related claims made by alcoholic drink manufacturers must be verifiable and balanced with revelations about the health risks of excessive alcohol consumption.
Schwartz … who has racked up $100,000 in legal fees while negotiating with the TTB, hopes below-the-radar marketing tricks will give Stampede a boost–and keep him out of trouble.
For...
Continue Reading Leave a CommentTags: ad, caffeine/secondary effects, nutrition, policy