Day 27: Barefoot Pink Moscato

About a week ago, as I was writing in this series about Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc, I said that “story” wasn’t once mentioned to me as a motivator for a wine purchase. Which is an omission, I wrote, that should give pause to both wine marketers and writers (myself included), who hang our hats on the supposed power of narrative.

I posted the link on Facebook and invited comments. Please click over for the full thread, which features many excellent points, and here’s one that rose to the surface for me, from Robert Joseph:

Some of the best stories are the ones we are prompted to tell ourselves, [when] there are enough ingredients for readers to weave their own (little) tales.

He’s referring specifically to the campaigns run by Accolade for Hardy’s and by Gallo for Barefoot — when the brand provides just enough context to link itself to the past and to real people, for example, and just enough of a suggestion of authenticity for the consumer to relate.

The power, in other words, is in the suggestion.

It’s even more powerful when those suggestions leave most of the work up to our own — the end consumer’s — imaginations to connect the dots between the context and authenticity of the story, and the purchase of the bottle.

It’s a neat trick and, given Barefoot’s sales, it seems to be working like a charm.

Yet, as Joe Czerwinski pointed out in the Facebook thread, “a story may get some people to try a wine, but repeat purchases are always driven by customer satisfaction.”

Which brings me to the wine in my glass, the Barefoot Pink Moscato, specifically.

Here’s why, as a consumer, I’m satisfied with this wine: it delivers on its suggestion of just enough levity and just enough buoyancy and just enough trendiness (rosé, pomegranate, sweetness). I didn’t buy this wine to take it “seriously.” I bought it just to drink, quickly and for fun, because that’s exactly what was suggested.

Quick Background Note: The Blue Collar Wine Guide is a 30-day, 30-wine experiment that looks at some of the world’s most popular, consumer-friendly wines. The idea is to take off my wine-writer shoes and stand instead in the shoes of Jane-and-Joe-in-front-of-a-wall-of-wine. Thank you for reading today’s post!