Wine wars heat up – lawsuit over label

A number of insiders have pointed to Australia’s Yellow Tail wine as an example of the power of packaging in wine marketing. Indeed, for those of use who aren’t connoisseurs, what else do we have to go on besides the vibe of the packaging?

Casella Wines, who produces Yellow Tail has used that to its advantage, by designing clever, bright, catchy looking labels that depict a stylized yellow-footed rock wallaby.

And consumers have noticed. In short order, Yellow Tail has become the best-selling Australian brand. Granted, the wine is pretty good, at least by my very limited, uneducated wine-tasting skills. But the brand’s success is by a large enough margin over similarly priced rivals that the branding surely has to be a factor.

Want more proof? Well, you know what they say about imitation being flattery. Rival brand Bronco Wines has reportedly jumped on the cute Aussie-animal bandwagon, introducing a low-cost wine called Down Under, with labels that feature a kangaroo and a wallaby.

As you might imagine, Casella is not pleased. Bronco — best known for bringing us the $1.99-a-bottle Charles Shaw brand, also known as “Two Buck Chuck” – is getting sued by Casella for act of “flattery.”

Hmmm. I wonder how this bodes for the penguins and all the other critters showing up on wine bottles lately.

Photo by Brian Auer

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