by Andrew Chalk
Reading some wine advertisements makes it hard to remember that we are talking about fermented grapes. I have read about wines that supposedly contained sunlight, family dreams, history, magic and genius. Put charitably, this copy is trying to convey the feelings that went in to making (or are derived from drinking) the wine. However, sometimes you come across copy that is simply bullshit. Such was the case this week with the ad. for Manuscript Pinot Noir in Modern Luxury.
The ad tells us that this is a (California) Central Coast Pinot Noir that was “born in the Sonoma Coast”. Dah! The Central Coast and the Sonoma Coast are two completely different and non-contiguous areas of California! If this wine actually came from the California Central Coast AVA then at least 85% of its grapes came from there, and it would have been impossible for more than a smattering to have come from the Sonoma Coast (hundreds of miles to the north of most of the Central Coast AVA).
This kind of sophomoric error is just one step above spelling wine with an ‘h’ in it and shows the danger of letting the interns write the ads. The real problem for the (local) company behind the Manuscript brand is that their raison d’être is as a brand development company and if your ad. copy is crap, that is a tough row to hoe.
Row to hoe.
This advertisement most likely would not be in TTB compliance since it doesn’t adhere to the COLA labeling code. A winery cannot make claims in advertisements that are not facts on the label.