One thing that the new online wine clubs can do that more traditional wineries cannot:play with marketing messages until they find the one that resonates with consumers. Meet Winc Summer Water, one of the best examples of this happening in real time.
While my wife is undoubtedly more of a fan than I am, the rise of Rose though is serious business and there is serious money to be made. All one has to do is watch a single episode of Real Housewives and see the “Rose All Day” chant breaking out to know what’s happening culturally.
Winc Wine Club has a winner here in it’s Summer Water.
What is Summer Water? It’s a Rose made in California that smartly comes in two sizes. Yes, Winc will sell you a traditional bottle of it, preferably more than one bottle actually. You can pay for 4 bottles at $20 a bottle, or an entire case for $18 a bottle. If you join the Rose wine club and accept ongoing deliveries of Summer Water, they’ll knock it down another $2 to around $16 a bottle. Lastly and one thing that the Winc Wine Club is doing that I like is bottling this in single glass sizes as well.
Without going into too much detail, pricing on smaller bottle size ALWAYS is worse. As are larger sizes, basically anything that is out of the ordinary takes extra time and costs more. The smaller single serve bottles are actually more expensive than the standard ones, because we make so many less of them. Likewise they’re lighter, but don’t ship as nicely, so it costs more to ship them. But, consumers tend to love the setup and as an industry, wine clubs can help move pricing by at least offering these different formats. Winc Summer Water comes in a single serve bottle, 24 of them for $135, or if you subscribe to the wine club, $120. $10 a glass is a rough sell for Rose, but I’m glad Winc is trying at lest.
Lastly, you might be wondering why Winc might have this Rose under it’s own brand. I suspect, having sold wine for quite some time, that Summer Water will end up in grocery stores, Target and elsewhere eventually. It’s easier to get those placements with some brand awareness and eventually, Winc can sell the brand if they want to. Some of the purchase prices for these brands have been INSANE. Meiomi is a great example, it sold for a cool $315 million. Yes, you read that correctly.
In any case, if you want a fun summer Rose that’s fit for the times: Winc Summer Water is here and you’ll likely be seeing it around.