Mammal Marketing What about kangaroos makes us want to drink Shiraz? Is there something about the image of a cat that brings notions of Sauvignon Blanc to mind? What do monkeys have to do with wine? These are just a few of the questions that come to mind while browsing local liquor store shelves these days. More and more, we are seeing animals on the labels of wine bottles. From reptiles to rodents, these creatures are on wine labels everywhere – wineries around the world have gone critter crazy. So what is the deal with all the animals on wine labels anyway? Well, it all started around the millennium when an Australian family winery called Cassella Wines decided to launch a new wine into the export market. They grew the grapes in South Australia’s vast Riverina region and bottled the wine in regular 750 ml bottles with colourful labels inspired by Aboriginal dot art. The wine was [yellow tail] and the animal on the label was a yellow kangaroo (or was it?). Exactly what made [yellow tail] the international success that it has become is anyone’s guess. In the seven years of its existence it has become the most successful launch of an Australian wine brand in the history of wine Downunder boasting export sales of more than 12 million cases since 1998. Maybe it was the wine in the bottle that made [yellow tail] such a hit throughout Europe, Asia, the UK, USA and Canada, or maybe it’s the clever use of [punctuation] in the name to make it stand apart from all the rest. But the thing that this wine is most famous for is the ‘kangaroo’ on its label. Ironically, the picture on the front of [yellow tail] bottles isn’t a kangaroo at all, but rather it is a yellow-footed rock wallaby – a creature that stands about five feet tall at its full maturity and has been known to hop around the Casella family’s vineyards. Whatever it was that soared sales of this new Australian wine brand well into the millions practically overnight, its wine-crafting counterparts took notice and emulation rapidly began. Wineries from France, South Africa, New Zealand, California, Canada and more all began putting animals on the front labels of their bottles in hopes of emulating [yellow tail]’s success. A wine shopping list that once read “Pinot Noir, Côtes du Rhône and Shiraz” now reads “Monkey Bay, Ted the Mule and Yard Dog Red” and our shopping carts have started to resemble cages in a zoo. There is a descriptor in the wine industry that identifies Sauvignon Blanc as having a pungent aroma not totally unlike the excretion of a feline. Another frequent comment of the same wine is that it tastes of gooseberries. Take these two standards and add in the newly popular comparison to living things and a rather unsavory wine name is born: ‘Cat’s Pee on a Gooseberry Bush’. The grape? You guessed it – Sauvignon Blanc. Local industry experts are advising wineries oversees on how to make a wine popular in our markets and, building on the success of one noted marsupial label in particular, tales of [yellow tail] are being spun worldwide. An established Western Canadian wine agent was working with a winery in the South of France to bring a new wine into B.C.. When the winery asked what would work in the local marketplace, the agent replied, “Good wine with upfront fruit flavours, reasonably priced and with an animal on the label.” The result – Phoque Rouge. A French translation of ‘red seal’, the label features a friendly-looking circus seal balancing a ball on his nose. Rumour has it that the BC Liquor Stores even had a moratorium on bringing in new wines with animals on the labels for a short time as their locations were beginning to look more like zoos than retail stores. The bottom line about this animal invasion is that we really do love the furry creatures, be they koalas, kangaroos or yellow-footed wallabies. Since the very early days of our childhoods reading stories of talking creatures in Winnie the Pooh, we have learned to regard our furry friends as a source of familiarity and comfort. And maybe, someday, this animal trend will go a step further and make it easier for us to pair wine with dinner: Angus the Bull Cabernet with steak, Bird Label Riesling with chicken and Little Penguin Merlot with – well, we’re not quite there yet.
[yellowtail] Shiraz $13 – $14 Chat en Oeuf Côtes du Ventoux $14 – $15 See Ya Later Ranch Pinot Gris $19 – $21 Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc $14 – $18 Jindalee Cabernet Sauvignon $11 – $13
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