HotmailJoe Six-pack, meet Charles Chardonnay
During the past few years wine companies are marketing more to men
 AP Winemaker Cal Dennison in Modesto, Calif., will gladly take a tall glass of red or white wine over beer when he goes on an outdoor adventure with friends. |
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BERKELEY, California - Cal Dennison likes a nice cold glass of chardonnay. And he's man enough to admit it.
That's hardly surprising since Dennison is winemaker at the Modesto-based Redwood Creek winery, but is he an exception?
It's hard to say for sure exactly who's drinking what in America, but a Gallup Poll from last July found that among women who drink, 43 percent say wine is what they drink most often and 28 percent say beer. Among men who drink, 58 percent say beer is what they drink most often and 17 percent say wine.
"As a general rule, guys get together, they don't want to be seen with a glass of wine," says Nelson Barber, an associate professor of hospitality management at Texas Tech University who has studied gender differences in marketing wine.
Wine companies would like to change that. During the past few years some have adopted guy-friendly marketing with tie-ins to such red-blooded pastimes as camping and racing.
Take Maximus, a blend of cabernet sauvignon, syrah and merlot introduced by the Bennett Lane Winery in Calistoga a few years back. Bennett Lane, which owns a stock car racing NASCAR team, is sponsoring a NASCAR West event at Infineon Raceway this Father's Day weekend.
Then there's "The Slammer," a syrah from Big House wines (their Soledad winery is near a California state prison), that features a back label showing a tough-looking guy with pants slung at plumber level.
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"Without a doubt we start with the great outdoors," says Dennison, a horseman and fisherman. "If you decide to bring a little wine on an outdoor adventure, by golly, Redwood Creek is the wine of choice."
Natalie MacLean, editor of wine Web site NatalieMacLean.com, tends to be skeptical of marketing campaigns, but she understands a winery's need to stand out on crowded shelves.
Wines aimed at women, with labels such as "Mad Housewife," came out some years ago and MacLean isn't surprised to see guy wines follow. "We all shop based on the label — fluffy squirrel, castle in the middle distance — it's whatever works," she says.
It's up to consumers to decide "whether the wine delivers — for a man's man or a woman's woman," she says.
When selling wine, one thing you don't want to do is walk up to a guy in a wine shop and ask "Can I help you?" says Barber. He theorizes this may have something to do with that elusive asking-for-directions gene.
An opener like "What kind of occasion are you thinking of buying a wine for" is a better bet, Barber says.
Dennison has started some conversations of his own with fellow members of his riding club, men and women.
It's "quite the rodeo cowboy culture and the folks there, of course, are enjoying the odd beer or two," he says. "But as I spend time with them, I'm just getting pummeled with questions on wine and which wine we should have and what wine is good."
He's got Father's Day all planned out. Up early, get the boat, off to his favorite Sierra lake for some fishing with his son and then back to the ranch to fire up the grill and cook their catch.
One guess on what he'll be washing it down with.
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