Zip Code win·ery

Zip Code win·ery (noun): A winery whose vineyards may be located in one place, but seeks to associate itself with another area.

Charles_Shaw_bottles

In her profile of wine business mogul Fred Franzia in the May 18, 2009 issue of the New Yorker, Dana Goodyear describes how Franzia's popular Charles Shaw wine (also known as "Two Buck Chuck") gains from the prestige associated with the Napa Valley wine region -- where it is bottled -- even though it is made from grapes grown in vineyards in California's less desirable Central Valley:

Although Charles Shaw wine falls under the generic California appellation, the broadest possible desig­nation, it can legitimately be labelled “Cellared & Bottled by Charles Shaw Winery, Napa, CA,” a practice that strikes many in Napa as unsavory. “It’s called a Zip Code winery,” Vic Motto, a business adviser to Napa Valley wineries, says. “The unsuspecting consumer may not realize it’s not Napa wine. Fred uses that to his advantage.”
 
Posted by Josh Friedland on May 22, 2009 in Business, Dictionary, Drink, What's Fresh | Link | | Print this page | Share This
 


 

Comments

May 23, 2009 9:50:49 AM
Posted By: Barry Popik

This seems similar to the old terminology of a "mail drop address."

Maybe this is a Napa Valley localism?

 

May 26, 2009 9:50:52 AM
Posted By: Scovill Allan

Hooray for two buck chuck. Let the wine snobs have their $40 Malbec from Napa, us working folks appreciate good table wine at a great price regardless of it origin - Modesto, Chile, it's all good (no Texas wine, please).

 

May 28, 2009 12:19:35 AM
Posted By: Barry Popik

"no Texas wine, please"

You do know that I reside in Austin, TX, don't you?

Don't mess with Texas!

 

Post a comment