DAN'S WINE BLOG- USP

USP – Unique Selling Proposition

?Friday, August 18, 2023

?This week I am talking about a winery having a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). There are probably somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 wineries on this planet (Australia has around 2,500). Out of that number (I’m guessing here) say 5% have one or more really outstanding wines in their portfolio, and a mere 1% have renowned, instantly recognisable names such as Chateau Latour, Chateau d’Yquem, Penfolds Grange, Dr Ernst Loosen, Vega Sicilia, Muga, Sassicaia, Isole e Olena, Graham’s, Sandeman, Ridge Wines, Opus One, Nytimber, etc. Usually that recognition has been built up over decades or even centuries of producing excellent wines.

?So what can the other 4% do to elevate their status to the hallowed 1%? How can they create a USP?

?If you have the answer to this question, you can become very famous and probably very rich. However, there is no easy answer to this quandary, otherwise we would be tripping over ultra, ubber, super premium wines.

?Somewhere amidst the 4% there are a mere handful of uniquely eccentric winemakers whose very nature makes them stand out from the crowd and makes their wines unforgettable. The first one of these that I came across was the original Rh?ne Ranger – California’s unique Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Wines. Way back in the 1980s at a time when California was fixated on Cabernet and Chardonnay, he planted the whole gamut of Rh?ne varietals and has since gone on to plant unheard of (in the USA) varieties such as Grenache Blanc and Picpoul. He created such wines as “Le Cigar Volant” – which has quite a story behind it. Truly, Randall is a vinous “eccentricus”.

?The more recent and possibly even more “vinous eccentricus” is Chester Osborn – head fun-maker and stirrer at McLaren Vale’s d’Arenberg Wines. Since taking over the reins from his highly respected father, d’Arry Osborn (creator of the well-known d’Arenberg red stripe + winner of the 1969 Jimmy Watson Trophy) some years ago, Chester has generated a vast array of new wines with names ranging from unusual to downright bizarre – such as “The Pickwickian Brobdingnagian Shiraz” or the “Noble Botryotinia Fuckeliana”, or my favourite “The Old Bloke & The Three Young Blondes” (old vine Shiraz + Roussanne, Viognier, Marsanne) which caused quite a stir with the PC crowd whilst scoring significant free publicity for the winery.

?Added to this Chester built the “d’Arenberg Cube” which is not only a sensational cellar door, but also a superb restaurant, a living art installation and currently the only exhibit in the southern hemisphere for the Salvador Dalí Exhibition – it came for a three month visit mid-2019 and loved it so much that it has stuck around since.

?Everywhere you look inside the d’Arenberg Cube there is something to catch your attention, from stacks of vinous paraphernalia (via the video room which has footage projected onto all four walls so that you feel like you are actually in the vineyard) through winery hoses and barrel ends decorating the walls, to the brilliant Men’s Rest Room, where you walk through a curved outer door which is covered/almost camouflaged with leaves and greenery, then in the inner sanctum you are confronted with the individual urinals, which are done-up to look like a clown’s face – so that you pee into a clown’s mouth!!!

?When you add up all this bizarreness and add a raft of superb wines – 46 plus the 10 individual vineyard Shiraz (see this week’s wine review), oh and a bunch of the Settlers Gins you have a “card carrying” member “vinous eccentricus” that no-one will ever forget, nor forget the excellent wines of d’Arenberg. USP well and truly achieved! Cheers Chester!

?If you can think of any other “vinous eccentricus” around the world please drop me a line with the details – Thanks!

Well that’s it for this week! Have a great weekend and stay safe. Cheers, Dan T.

?Winery Link:?www.darenberg.com.au