There are few beverages so closely associated with wealth, power and allure than Champagne. A Champagne-tinged lifestyle is wrought with pretense, beauty, celebration and ease, at least in the minds of star-struck consumers.
Perhaps eager to support that image, several Champagne and Sparkling wine producers are positioning their product as an image drink, supported by increasingly outlandish and gimmicky packaging. In a critical time for the industry, high-end producers are doing their level best to position their product as the "it drink" for fashionistas.
Piper-Heidsieck began the trend when they released limited edition bottles of their Special Cuvee Champagne dressed in red pleather corsets designed by fashion icon Jean-Paul Gaultier. The bottle, priced at $100, "Created a trend for Champagne as a fashion accessory, allowing the brand to align more closely with this exciting world," said company spokesperson Peter Malachi. The company's press release for the special edition read closer to wine porn than a seriously crafted Champagne.
The promise, it turned out, was good for the business of selling Champagne. US sales, according to the company, were up 77 percent that year.
The actual Champagne, created by Daniel Thibault, a serious winemaker with several awards to back that up, was described as "a magical elixir”. Image is what's for sale in the competitive high-fashion world, and Piper-Heidsieck intends to make their product the center of it. The actual product inside the bottle is an afterthought. After all, how many people are actually going to drink it?
While Piper-Heidsieck is "red hot," Lanson is cool, cold and calculating. Lanson aims to be exclusive, with limited distribution and an unattainable price. The limited edition bottle was a featured display at New York's Bubble Lounge Champagne bar. The San Francisco Bubble Lounge never carried the product except for a recent private party. And your local wine shop? Forget about it.
But is there any fault in positioning a product far away from corn-fed Middle America? US sales of Champagne and Sparkling wine have been down significantly since the beginning of the Noughties.
Then again, not all producers have the desire to create that red-hot image. Some are quite content to be utterly boring. In an effort to reach out to those corn-fed Middle Americans the fashion world left behind, California's Korbel winery featured Kenny G on their bottles. The move positioned Korbel as far away from trendy and hip as can be imagined.
The Brut Rosé California Champagne bottle displayed a black, purple, yellow and blue saxophone image created by Kenny G. The musician has won a Grammy Award and is a constant on light rock radio stations. Korbel has consistently chosen middle-of-the-road artists popular in suburbia; singers Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra have been featured, as have actresses Jane Seymour and Whoopi Goldberg.
According to the company, Korbel is the best-selling premium methode champenoise -- produced sparkling wine in the United States. They have achieved this market status by associating themselves with average consumers, through their marketing and by their sponsorships. They’ve been the global sponsor of Times Square's New Year's Eve celebrations until 2007, have supplied four Presidential Inaugurations with bubbly and were an official supporter of the 2002 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Teams.
The image marketing supported by bottle dressings with designer labels is creating a niche market. That niche, and the models, designers and "beautiful people" supporting it could spell good times for the producers who have jumped on the bandwagon.