I sold wine in states in one form or another for 6 years or so. I worked the floor of a shop in Excelsior, Minnesota, for a summer, and I ran a major Wine shop in Minnetonka. One thing that I heard from day one of my entrance into the world of wine was “You know, Spanish wine is the new up and coming wine region.” I started back in 1999. Today we’re half way through 2006 and I’m still hearing this. Sure Spain has been in the news a lot and an old importer friend in Minnesota even mentioned that there are a ton new importers specializing in Spanish wine and even some of the Portuguese table wines. So why hasn’t it popped?

Well I think it will, and I think in some ways it already has. On the other hand, is there anything we can do to make it happen sooner? Maybe….today I ran across this article on a story that I’ve been on and off following for the past week or so: Rap and Brand Names an Odd Mix written by Marcus Franklin, he starts the article like this:

A few weeks ago, Jay-Z announced he was boycotting Cristal at his clubs after the champagne company’s president indicated that he wasn’t thrilled about the brand’s association with hip-hop culture _ comments the rapper called ‘racist.’
But what about the many other high-end brands whose names constantly appear in rap lyrics? Do they embrace the free publicity or cringe at it? It depends on which company you ask.

Now, before I left the States, Cristal was the hardest high end Champange to get for our shelves. In fact, the distributor in Minnesota held it above retailers heads in an attempt to get people to buy other products. Was it worth it? Probably not, but people wanted it. They wanted it because Jay-Z and others like him talked about it. The relationship meant effortless sales for the product for the life of the product, or so we thought. The truth is a pop culture mention can change the face of a product permenatly. Take Cadillac:

Cadillac, which lost some luster in the 1980s and `90s, credits its turnaround, in part, to the popularity of the Escalade among rappers and other celebrities. Moet Hennessy USA said the wine and liquor company was ‘thrilled’ about its affiliation with hip-hop.

Now I personally don’t think you need to be a rapper to cause the kind of buzz we see around some of these products. Throughout pop culture, you can see celelbrity endorsements causing prodcuts to soar in sales or flail about searching for a buyer. The truth is though the staged endorsements that everyone knows about tend to have less impact then the casual mention. It’s the casual mention of a product or public use of a product that tends to get a product it’s noteriety. Sitting at a bar, your favorite celeb walks in and orders a (insert name of beverage here), and all of a sudden the (bevereage name) is no longer in stock. Wierd I know, true none the less.

So where am I going with this? Well, let’s find ourselves a celebrity! Let’s buddy up to them, and let’s feed them some Sherry, or Cava, or Port. Cava could equal Bling couldn’t it? Or maybe a Sherry song: Sherry oh you nutty fino, come here baby and do your salt air finish fo me! Maybe we could use Beckham to tell us all how he just wants a glass of spanish wine after the next Real Madrid Match? Think it would work? Who knows? You never know!

FYI, here at Catavino we have an open offer to Jay-Z: “If you are looking for another sparkler to make you happy, give me a call. We have some nice Cavas that might be up your alley!”

Rambling on,
Ryan Opaz