Brand Wars - The Princes of Napa Vs the Pirating Knave
Behind the scenes of the wine phenom nick-named in a Internet chat room raged an epic battle over the value of brand, and California's quintessential spirit exclaimed by its own state motto Eureka
Down to our DNA we Californians hold triumphal belief in Gold Rush riches from supernatural pluck a guy comes to LA with two Jefferson's in his pocket and immortalizes his name on dream machine Disney studios. a billionaire-in-training collects bottles to eat, and starts Apple computers in a garage. California's governor was an immigrant weight-builder turned Hollywood action hero. even the sporting event of the 20th century happened right here when 'milk-cart pony' Seabiscuit obliterated every record and left Eastern aristocratic champ, War Admiral, in his dust.
And even though California is a relatively new entrant to the 8,000 year old craft of winemaking in just the last 31-years California vintners have caused the three most spectacular upsets in all of wine's illustrious, long history
At the legendary 1976 Judgment of Paris blind taste-testing then upstart Napa winemakers challenged the presumed superior--and slightly amused--French vintners. Noble France was handed its head on a plate and Napa was elevated as le monde de vin's shimmering Camelot. then in 2006, on the 30-year anniversary of France's stunning rout, the Gauls expected to slap-down the Americans in a rematch to select the big ten Wines. they received a second beret-twirling shock when Napa won 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 10th places which cemented California vintners' collective derriere firmly to the world's wine throne.
But in July 2007 it was the Napa winemakers who felt a stinging blow when $1.99 a bottle bargain vintage, Charles Shaw Chardonnay, affectionately or derisively known as Two-Buck Chuck depending on your point of view, won the double Gold Medal at the prestigious California State Fair Commercial Wine competition. Two-Buck bested 350 labels many from Napa's premier wineries.
A bit of extra sea-salt in the wounds was that Fred Franzia, Two-Buck's Dad, and owner of Bronco Wines headquartered in Ceres, in California's Central Valley, spent not a dime marketing his value-priced brew. it sold itself in the Internet firestorm ignited by its nickname. Seems the Millennial Generation bite on snappy wine labels. and though it sells only through one vendor, California's Trader Joe's stores, it is the fastest growing wine brand in U.S. history and the hottest seller ever out of Napa.
Oh, and there's the rub. out of Napa.
Franzia's Bronco Wines' empire stretches over 35,000 acres from Sacramento to an hour above LA along the Tehachapi range. He owns more of those pristinely neat, green running rows than anyone in California. but the catch is that he trucks the juice from his grape crush and processing operations in Ceres to be bottled and distributed, also by his own companies, in Napa. Portly Franzia says he is a Robin Hood Crusader bringing good cheap wine to the overeducated, underpaid Gen Xs and their aging Yuppie folks, and to the aforementioned Millennials, too.
The Princes of Napa have sued him for being a pirating knave.
Here in California, the inborn archetype of fables like Zoro and the Lone Ranger emotionally resonate. They're our life-blood and we crave the fix of a fresh infusion. so when a strategic renegade snickers as he cleverly defeats his foes to benefit the oppressed people--we get a little misty in the eye.
But the Napa winemakers say, hold the phone, kiddies, let's review Ethics 102.
It was we who built this dream, and made Napa into that glistening Eden that's California's second tourist destination after Disneyland. and by slapping the Napa appellation on his cheap grapes carted in from Ceres, Franzia is like Time's Square street hawkers peddling knock-off bags. He's diminishing our world-class brand.
Hmm. oh, yeah. There's that, too.
After a six-year legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court corks popped in Napa's palatial showcases. The Napanistas finally beat the guy who they regard as a philistine at their verdant, glammy chateaux gates. but hey, my only horse in this race is California wines. I send spiritual bouquets to them all.
Franzia, a third-generation Italian-American from an illustrious winemaking family, sits in his Ceres shack of a trailer office at the center of his 30-label domain. He's no frills kind of guy, who drives a dusty jeep, eats at low-end diners, is a hell of a businessman and philosophical about his court loss.
But just remember, folks. Ceres was the Goddess of agriculture and fertility. and Horace, the greatest of Latin poets from the Augustan times who wrote phrases like carpe diem-seize the day--said that he would not abide sailing in this fragile skiff of life with any man who'd divulge the secrets of Ceres. whatever next surprise is coming from Fred Franzia, is bound to have 'Eureka' at the end and the blood's rushing to my head right now imagining it.
2008-2012 Suzanne de Cornelia-All copyrights apply. This article may be reprinted on websites as long as the entire article, including the website link and resource box below are included and unchanged.
Brand Wars - The Princes of Napa Vs the Pirating Knave
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