The graphic at left is from an Alsace riesling promotion, devised by Louise Jordan. Her goal? Show consumers that riesling doesn ?t always mean sweet.
?I kept seeing time and time again that in every infographic put out by consumers and wine professionals alike, that riesling was always in either the off-dry or sweet category, ? says Jordan, who works for the French wine region ?s marketing company, Teuwen Communications. ?Also, whenever we do large scale consumer Alsace tastings and serve riesling, people always assume they ?re sweet. And many times, even when we tell them the wine is bone dry, they still say it’s sweet. ?
Click here for a bigger version of the graphic, which will open in your browser. Comparing riesling ?s residual sugar to soft drinks and orange juice is brilliant, and I say that even if Louise wasn’t a friend of the blog. And noting that a Starbucks-style latte has eight times the sweetness of a riesling is brilliant. That more people don’t do more like this speaks volumes about what passes for wine marketing, including the all but useless descriptors on the back labels. Which do you think will help the consumer make a better decision?
This is just another example of how far behind wine is in sucessfully talking to its customers. If wine doesn’t believe in ingredient or nutritional labeling, I suppose it is too much to expect more like this.