One can easily engage Michael Mims in conversation laced with terroir, microclimate and other wine terminology. After all, he grows 80 acres of vines near Upper Lake, selling some and crafting the rest into the remarkable Glamazon wines.
But there is something immediately striking about his boutique brand, something besides the Sauvignon Blanc or Petite Sirah inside each bottle: the label.
Glamazon labels are cheeky, playful and appealing. The Deadpan Merlot, for example, evokes the dark corners and seedy joints haunted by film noir heroes. The Serious? Red appears to flirt with you from the shelf with one soft eye. Each one is a bit of pop art.
There is, at Glamazon, two steps in the creative process—the wine and its presentation on the shelf. And, Mims said, the latter “is as much fun, I can tell you that.”
Sure, there are studies out there on the importance of labeling. That strip of paper on each bottle has just a few seconds to catch a potential buyer”s eye, claims one. More than 80 percent of American wine drinkers prefer labels that are easy to decipher, says another. Mims even engaged a consulting firm to evaluate Glamazon”s marketing.
The company refused to go along with Glamazon”s concept, telling Mims he was not serious enough about the brand.
Serious? Red was born.
“Our wines are winning awards,” Mims pointed out. The name Serious? Red “is a bit of a snub of my nose back at them.”
Other labels in the line draw on family members. The face sketched under the fedora on their Deadpan Merlot, for instance, is Mims” son. Even the name of this boutique Lake County brand was inspired by family—his fashionable daughter-in-law, who likes to add to her 6-foot presence by wearing spiked heels, which led friends to nickname her “Glamazon.”
“The first time I heard that I said ”that”s it,”” Mims said.
They created a Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blend with her caricature emblazoned on the paper, leaning with casual confidence on the frame.
While the labels may be clever and the brand name intriguing, there is market-savvy sense behind them. The same casual confidence displayed on their first blend drives Mims and his team.
“People are drawn to our labels then they taste the wines and love them,” he said. “I believe that”s the next generation of wine drinkers.”
Indeed, the U.S. now consumes more wine than France, or any other nation and young Americans—those under the age of 40—represent the largest wine drinking demographic in the country. Research of market trends indicate that this Millennial generation is less stuffy, less traditional when it comes to the noble fermented grape. Even a decade ago surveys found that 36 percent of those who buy wine admitted being lured in by humorous packaging. Hence the arrival of brands like Pinot Evil, Return of the Living Red, Seven Deadly Zins and Fat Bastard.
Glamazon is a smaller line, but their decisions fit the times.
“We have a fun line,” Mims acknowledged.
Still, what is inside each bottle matters more in the end, and Glamazon has racked up some impressive honors. The 2009 Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blend earned gold at the Finger Lakes competition and Silver from the Dallas Morning News. Their 2012 Precocious Petite Sirah took home silver from the San Francisco International competition.
Mims, who splits time between his vineyards in Upper Lake and a home in Houston, often holds blind tastings for Texas wine aficionados pitting Lake County labels—Shed Horn, Obsidian Ridge, Gregory Graham and others (including, yes, Glamazon)—against the big names from Napa.
“Lake County has beaten Napa on every tasting but one” Mims pointed out. “And that one was a tie.”
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016.
