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Gaia Wines Contemporary Winery: An Emblem of Indiana's Growing Wine Industry

Wine making and wine tasting has long been a favorite American pastime, particularly in western states such as California - a subject humorously portrayed in the hit 2004 film, Sideways.

Yet, this pursuit seems to have traveled across the United States, with wineries appearing in the most unlikely of locations. Indianapolis, for instance, is highly valued for being a dedicated centre of sport; yet in 1996, Indianapolis saw the opening of Gaia Wines Contemporary Winery, the 19th winery in the area.

Named after the Greek Goddess of the Earth, Gaia Wines is owned and run by Cellar Master Angee Wallberry, and is the only winery in the US owned solely by a woman. Since its opening, Gaia Wines has tried to fit into its surroundings, but has also endeavored to create its own unique niche in the marketplace. Located in the central, up-market historic gallery and theater district on Massachusetts Avenue, only a few minutes away from the luxury Conrad Hotel, it has had to quickly establish a high reputation for itself - and to no little success: since its opening, Gaia Wines has managed to pull off the amazing feat of creating 14 new award winning wines, introducing tours and wine tasting events to the winery, as well as providing meeting rooms and playing host to public functions.

Gaia Wines Contemporary Winery also hosts various public activities, such as Sunday Jazz and comedy shows, along with monthly specials and wine appreciation classes. Clearly, Gaia Wines fits in well with Indianapolis' growing wine tasting scene, which has been emerging since the 1990s. Among Indiana's other wineries worth visiting are the Chateau Thomas Winery, and the Easley Winery, both of which offer free tasting sessions and regular tours, in addition to meeting space, events and activities.

The success of Gaia Wines Contemporary Winery since it opened ten years ago is not altogether surprising, as soil conditions and climate in Indiana are optimal for wine production - although this is not often acknowledged outside the state. In particular, Indiana's conditions are great for cultivating the increasingly popular Cabernet Sauvignon grape variety. The impressive quality of Indiana wines has led to its vintners being more generally acknowledged in the wider vintner community across America and the globe. Though it may still not be regarded on a scale to California's Napa Valley, Indiana is certainly gaining regard as one of America's up-and-coming wine growing regions; and if wineries continue to be as successful as Gaia Wines Contemporary Winery, the future looks rosy.

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Gaia Wines Contemporary Winery: An Emblem of Indiana's Growing Wine Industry


Wine making and wine tasting has long been a favorite American pastime, particularly in western states such as California - a subject humorously portr...


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The New Wine Label Phenomenon


Copyright (c) 2006 Peter Renton



It comes as no news to anyone that the American people love their animals. What did come as a surprise to me is that we also love animals on our wine labels. Yes, a study released earlier this year by ACNielsen confirms that wine labels with animal images are becoming increasingly popular in this country.



I felt compelled to do my own research on this topic so one evening I stopped by my local liquor store to check out the wine selection. Sure enough I was greeted with a veritable zoo of animals on labels. There were Dancing Bulls, Leaping Horses, Black Swans, Little Penguins, Kangaroos, even a hippopotamus courtesy of Fat Bastard Wines (which is French would you believe). This very informal research confirmed that there seems to be a much larger selection of wines with animal labels than ever before.



Critter Labels Rule



In the wine industry these animal labels are affectionately known as "critter labels", and the trend began back in 2001 with the introduction of the Yellow Tail brand of wines into this country from Australia. Pictured on the label is what looks like a kangaroo (but which is in fact supposed to be the yellow-footed rock wallaby). These wines had labels that looked striking, were priced very reasonably and they tasted great ? so they became a runaway success. So much so that they spawned an entire new "category" of wine.



The ACNielsen study has some hard data confirming the popularity of this new wine category. In the past three years there have been 438 new Table Wine brands that have been successfully introduced in the American market (those wines that sold more than $20,000 annually). Of these 438 new brands 77 of them featured an animal on their label, around 18 percent. Combined with existing "critter label" wines, sales reached $600 million in 2005 out of a total of just over $4 billion, based on ACNielsen sales data from supermarket point of sale purchases.



"Critter-labeled wines are on the rise, quickly gaining share in the table wine category," said Danny Brager, vice president of ACNielsen's Beverage Alcohol team. "The sales generated by new brands featuring a critter outperform other new table wines by more than two to one." That's right, taken across the board new critter-labeled wines have proven in the marketplace to be more popular.



"While placing a critter on a label doesn't guarantee success, it is important that wine makers realize that there is a segment of consumers who don't want to have to take wine too seriously," said Brager. "Not only are they willing to have fun with wine, they may just feel ?good' about an animal label presentation." With hundreds of new wine brands being introduced each year, wine makers realize that they need to stand out from the crowd if they are to make an impression. The easiest and most cost effective way to stand out is with an attention grabbing label on your bottle. The wine industry has also realized that there is an increasingly large segment of consumers who are attracted by fun labels. They want to buy a non-pretentious wine and they don't want to pay a fortune. These are the people who walk into a liquor store and supermarket and have no idea what they are going to buy ? they decide by looking at the labels.



Chasing the Yellow Tail



The Yellow Tail wine phenomenon is the perfect example of this. From Casella Wines, a small family-owned winery in New South Wales, Australia, Yellow Tail went from zero to the number one imported wine in the US in just two years. The first year the Casella brothers expected to sell 25,000 cases of wine here, they ended up selling 200,000 cases. That was back in 2001. In 2005 they sold 8 million cases of wine. Yellow Tail Shiraz is now the #1 selling red wine in America (not just imports but ALL red wine). In the crowded and highly competitive US wine market with over 6,500 wine brands, Yellow Tail has become the #1 wine brand, and it took just five years.



Now, I realize that Yellow Tail's success is not just because of their label. They have a great product that is reasonably priced ? the Shiraz is just $6.99 ? and they have a very loyal base of repeat customers. But could they have become #1 without their unique label? I don't think so. One of the biggest barriers they faced was getting people to try the wine in the first place. With what looks like a brightly colored kangaroo on the label on a black background, it is a visually striking label. It was able to break through the clutter at the retail store with this label.



Perhaps the biggest indication of the success of Yellow Tail is the number of copycats it has spawned. Penfolds, Australia's leading winery, was obviously disappointed in missing out on this opportunity, so they responded with the launch of the Little Penguin brand of wines. There is now a deluge of animal themed wines, so much so that ACNielsen is tracking their sales now. Despite all this new competition Yellow Tail remains the most successful wine brand in terms of total sales.



Labels are a Powerful Tool



While the wine business is somewhat unique there are lessons here that can be applied to any industry. One lesson is that with a high impact label you can make inroads even in a conservative and image conscious industry such as the wine industry. Your label should be working hard for your product. It should be informational, be a sales and marketing piece, carry any necessary regulatory information, and at the same time be eye catching. If you are selling your products at a retail store, then your label needs to perform well in all these areas for your product to compete with other more established brands.



Your label is your sales tool. The success of Yellow Tail wines demonstrates that in any competitive industry a good label can help bring success. Of course, it doesn't have to feature a critter, but a visually appealing and eye catching label will always help sales.







Peter Renton is the founder of Lightning Labels, Inc. (http://www.lightninglabels.com) the leaders in digital label printing and custom labels. He writes regularly about the label printing and packaging industry on his blog at http://blog.lightninglabels.com.

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The New Wine Label Phenomenon


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It comes as no news to anyone that the American people love their animals. What did come as a surprise to me is that ...


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