1992 was all about being smoozed with shark steaks at Berni Inns, accompanied by the wine of choice: Black Tower wine. Heaven. But times weren’t always as good for the German white wine served in a black bottle.
When Black Tower was bought out by Grants of St. James’s in 1987 they found a once premium brand going down, and down, thanks to the launch of ‘own-label’ wines where supermarkets bottled, and sold, other people’s wines under their own supermarket logos. So what was this misunderstood wine to do?
The 1988 TV commercial ‘White out of Black’ was designed: just the top of the iconic black bottle sticking out of a bucket of ice all nicely laid out on a verandah somewhere idyllic with (a) palm tree, sea and surf in the background. A male hand uses a cork screw (remember those?) to pull the cork and gush the inviting white wine into rather a nice wine glass, while a female hand finally removes the glass out of shot. All accompanied by some rather decent 90s electric guitar.
No wonder the effect was dramatic: for every £1 spent, £2.26 of extra sales was generated.
But Black Tower wasn’t having it all it’s own way. Le Piat d’Or, that oh so French wine that ‘the French adore’, faught back with a major TV ad campaign in 1994-5 using the ‘French’ strategy.
Lots of adverts featuring supposedly French sounding folk arriving a day too early for a dinner party, while the lady of la maison rushes out of her bath (an actress who looks suspiciously like ‘Nicole’ of Renault Clio ads of the same time featuring ‘Nicole’ and ‘Papa’) – but all is smoothed over with a bottle of Le Piat D’or.
The thing is the French had never heard of the stuff. But never mind, it remained a brand leader.
PG Wine Reviews
Grecciano 2017, Sicily
£5.99 Lidl
Light buttery apple. Simple stuff.
Alsace Pinot Blanc 2017, France
£6.99 Lidl
Floral and fruity: flavours of pear and melon with rose aromas.
Famille Perrin Les Cardinaux 2016, Rhône red
£10 Co-op (exclusive)
Bargain posh red with complex aromas of violets, raspberries and plum then flavours of light Black Forest gateaux. Quite lightly flavoured.
Muscadet Sevre et Maine, Chateau Thébaud 2014
£15.99 Virgin Wines
It’s like drinking a lemon digestive biscuit. Nice.
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© Paula Goddard 2019 www.paulagoddard.com
