Chateau D’Arche, a Grand Cru Classe producer of Sauternes (dessert or sweet wine of Bordeaux) has started bottling its La Perle d’Arche wine in 100ml test-tube shaped bottles aimed at young drinkers in nightclubs. On the whole this seems to be a good idea since Sauternes is not well known outside the wine community, not to mention that french wine sales are on the decline so they’ve got to do something to shake things up.

But what’s troubling is their marketing, once again targeting women. Managing director Jerome Cosson told decanter.com: “We want to work with nightclubs to give customers the choice between vodka for the man and Sauternes for the lady. The idea is to put lots of them in a big ice bucket on the bar.”

A winemaker targeting women usually goes the low calorie wine route, like the just released French Wine Research Center’s “So Light” at 60 calories a glass and 9% alcohol. A 100ml serving of Sauternes is about twice the calories and 13% alcohol minimum. So while women may be relieved that they don’t have to deal with yet another winemaker trying to jam tasteless wine down their throats, seriously, do women have a problem with choice in alcoholic beverages at a bar? If a woman wants a glass of wine instead of vodka, she can simply order it.



This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog