What’s the Deal with the Names of Large Format Wine Bottles?

Many of the names of large format champagne and wine bottles have biblical names (primarily named after kings). They are names that have been used throughout history (actually, mostly originating in Scotland), but are now largely out of use. According to wineworld.com, it is now illegal to put these names of these bottles, and are not just a fun thing to know in quizzes. However, there’s one exception – the magnum.

It’s one of the oldest of all the terms – first appearing in a poem by Robert Burns in 1788. It is an abbreviation of magnum bonum, which means “a large good thing.” In Scotland it first came to be used for wine bottles, but now has been used to refer to many varieties of things (e.g., potatoes, cooking plums, guns, and apparently a large-barreled steel pen).

Here’s a list of some other bottle names and sizes for your next bar trivia night:

Name	Volume in bottles
Magnum*	2
Jeroboam	4
Rehoboam	6
Methuselah	8
Salmanazar	12
Balthazar	16
Nebuchadnezzar	20
Melchior	24
Solomon	28
Soverign	33.3
Primat	36

National Day Day

National Walk Around Things Day.  National Dirty Dishes Day.  National Pizza With the Works Without Anchovies Day. (source)

If you follow any brand on Instagram, it's likely that you know just how truly bizarre the "national day of" celebrations can get. 

This came to mind today when, lo and behold, I scrolled through social media and saw that it was yet another holiday: National Drink Wine Day.  Now what's so special about February 18th for National Drink Wine Day? How about:

• March 3rd, National Mulled Wine Day
• April 17th, International Malbec Day
• April 24th, Sauvignon Blanc Day
• May 9th, National Moscato Day
• May 21st, National Chardonnay Day
• May 25th, National Wine Day
• June 11th, Rosé Day
• July 25th, National Wine and Cheese Day
• August 1st, National Albariño Day
• August 18th, National Pinot Noir Day
• September 3rd, International Cabernet Day
• September 18th, International Granache Day
• November 7th, International Merlot Day
• November 12th, International Tempranillo Day
• November 19th, National Zinfandel Day
• December 31st, National Champagne Day (source 1, 2)

The list goes on.  

We know that these kinds of holidays are so-called marketing ploys, often used to boost sales during off-season, "Hallmark-certified" holiday times.  But do they actually lead to an increase in sales? 

While there's very little published resource about lift attributed to national days, I did stumble across this article that somewhat recently (2015) studies cross-industry peak times in revenue.  No surprise -- traditional holidays still make up upwards of 30% of companies' annual revenues.   What's interesting, though, is how new e-commerce retailers are making changes in traditional consumers' shopping behaviors:

"But today’s most innovative online retailers—companies like Mizzen & Main, Harry’s, Plated, and more—build relationships with their customers throughout the year. They use subscription models to create regular purchase habits, build high-quality brands to nurture affinity, and use effective (but not always discount-based) retention marketing. Because of this, they’re less reliant on holiday shopping than traditional retailers." 

I wonder: can some of the more recent wine club startups (ex: Vinebox) contribute to more regular, repeat purchases?

First Visit to Sonoma

Yesterday, I went to my first winery in Sonoma with a few friends from my class. We went to Scribe Winery for an afternoon picnic - it was so lovely. According to my friends, it is more of a "hip" younger crowd which I found to be true. It was a beautiful day (70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky) when we arrived at the winery. I have not visited other wineries in the area so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I got the sense that the experience was very relaxed / casual. We bought a bottle of rosé and a picnic basket full cheese, bread, cured meats, and fruit. The wine was light, crisp, and extremely drinkable. We grabbed a picnic blanket and a nice spot on the hill with our wine in hand. The winery was busy with a lot of people and their dogs drinking wine and enjoying the sunny weather.

It was nice to be able to have a glass or two of wine in a casual setting without a formal tasting as I was not looking for that sort of experience yesterday. One of the friends I was with is a member of the winery and I asked her about the availability of the wine for purchase in SF. She mentioned one small boutique wine shop where you can purchase it but it sounded more difficult to find. I was curious to understand Scribe’s distribution channel strategy and my friend’s response echoed what we had discussed in class over the quarter with regards to the difficulty of getting wines into hands of consumers that might not be winery members / visit Sonoma, etc. I enjoyed the visit to Scribe very much and would recommend for those looking for a casual afternoon of wine!