Cross Breeds

Why do Americans only purchase wine with funny names or animals on the labels? The French laugh in our faces--

Be aware of the French and Australian wine marketing. They prey on clueless American consumers.

Public Comments

1. LOL because we dont care for whine were true beer drinkers and proud of it.
2. F**k the French, what makes them so superior.
3. who cares, we invented the f**king internet!
4. I DRINK BLATZ BEER - LOVE IT !!!
5. Screw the French. They can't save their own a*ses. I know where you can buy some french army rifles real cheap, only been dropped once.
6. Many people laugh at Americans , look who we have for a president !
7. Who cares what the Frogs think of us. The only reason the French drink so much wine is because they have poluted their water so much they can't drink it.
8. "The French laugh in our faces-- " who cares wine is international stop tryin to make everything political
9. Actually I'm partial to a good Spanish Rioja or Chilean Cab and I really don't care how cute the label is.
10. Hey...Americans prey of clueless American consumers also so whats good for the goose...
11. I have many bottles of American wine over 30 years old and none of them has a funny name or an animal on the label. If it's the French who told you that, I would be inclined to believe thay have had a glass too many. They don't even know how to speak English, How would they know what's on our labels?
12. cus some of them are in to classic and those antic stuff. i dont really appreciate it.
13. Well it could be because we don't want to spend a lot of money on a foreign wine and discover we don't like it. And because some of us like American Wines,
14. Because THUNDERBIRD is AWESOME!!!!!!!!! why else?
15. huh? i didn't know that a survey had been done that we only buy wines with 'funny' names (whatever those are) and animals. and by the way i like french and australian wine and have never felt preyed upon as a consumer. if you don't know about wine, that's your problem, not the wine company.
16. Who cares about the French? The only thing they have contributed to civilization in the last 500 years can be watched on the food channel. They should devote more of their national effort to food and drink as they're not much use for anything else.
17. because we don't know any better but as we get more inform, we will be better and we have the expendable money to buy this stuff and those people better watch out because americans will be the ones buying their wines and soon its us who will be producing better ones that they. look at all the nice and tastier wines we are producing right not in california, new york etc. etc.
18. the only thing that interest the french is where they can find their favorite wine and where they can buy a white flag..
19. There are several issues involved in this. First, American consummerism is based on advertisement. When we see an advertisement, if we like it, we would go and get it. That is why stores have to keep on changing display and design - what works before may not work in the future, until something nice and novel comes along and attract the audience. We, in general, have short attention span, and we like something new, shiny, pretty, etc. Many people would give those nice looking thing a try. Critters and animals are something we can identify with, and when you have a wine with something unique on the label- whether kangaroo or lizard or tigers - and now we have labels with names such as "B*tch" and "Perfect Blonde" - we the consumers take attention to that and will try it at least once. Many of these are limited in lifespan, but the manufacturer will make their money, change it later to make more money. Second, we as American are less well educated in wine. While it is arguable whether French are snobby or not, I don't think it is any debate to say that, in general, the people in France is better educated about wine than the Americans in general. That does not mean we don't know. The world's foremost expert in French wine is Robert Parker - an American. However, many Frenchs started drinking wines since childhood, and they learn about the culture of wine - not just the tasting but the complementing with food. Americans, on ther other hand, had taboo about drinking, and many Americans start drinking Beers. Many of us get to the wine stage only later in life - way after the Frenchs. As a result, Americans are less educated about wine and will go for the prettier bottles or the bottles with funny names. In addition, the attitude about wine is also different. Since wine is a major produce in France, French are proud of their wines. It is a heritage, no matter how snobby that might sound. It is who they are and what they do. America, on the other hand, made wine a myth. While beer is everyday thing, wine is something "special". So, a bottle of wine that is over $30 is something you open for special occasions, whereas we cn drink 6 packs of beer in a baseball game. Which wines are the less than $30 per bottles? The critter wines and the ones with funny names - Screw Napa Kappa, Big House Red, Working Girl Red, Mad Housewife, etc. People would drink cheaper wine and get used to cheaper wine. They can not imagine how good wines can be when made well. And they did not need to, as far as they are concerned. To French, life is too short to drink cheap wines.
20. As someone who works in the industry, I can tell you what the biggest problem is for the French: it's marketing. As part of its national culture, America just isn't as obsessed with food and drink as France is. When an American goes to the grocery store, they are doing well *just* to know that they "like Rieslings, but hate Chardonnays." Americans generally look at the grape varietal, THEN the winery, and finally (maybe) the vintage. The rest of the world (with the exception of the French and one or two other countries) understands this, and labels their wines accordingly. The French, on the other hand, spend a lot of time on extraneous details, most of which are uninformative and intimidating to novice wine buyers (which are the majority of American consumers). If you're catering to oenophiles, then describing a wine as a "Bourdeaux, made from second runnings, at Chateau ........ , 2003 vintage" is fine. But for the majority of Americans, knowing that the wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes is more than sufficient. And when you really get down to it, many of the French wine names are funny-- maybe it's unintentionally amusing that the French refuse to simplify the names, despite lagging sales. However, for those who take the trouble to learn about wines from France, the rewards are there in the form of more complex and delicious flavors that not everyone knows about. Take advantage of others ignorance, and stock up before everyone else finds out about them...
21. What the French laugh about is not an issue with me. I don't care......
22. So what? The French laugh in the faces of many. We drink what we like and what tastes good. I don't base my wine selections on the most sophisticated vineyard. And my favorite wines come from the Rhine River valley in Germany or the Yadkin Valley region of North Carolina.
23. I might buy a wine ocassionally on impulse because of a clever label. However, I wouldn't buy the wine again unless I liked it. Successful wineries do focus on making quality wines that people will want to buy again and again.