Adelaide Friday 23 May: Having succeeded in convincing the Australian government to change the name of the fortified wine Port (with Wine Australia renaming it ‘Tawny’ in 2006), AFL football club, Port Adelaide Power are pressing ahead with moves to change the name of the alcoholic beverage ‘wine’ to something else in order to avoid confusion with star player Ollie Wines.
The move by Port Adelaide comes at the same time the New South Wales wine growing region of Orange is attempting to regulate skin contact wine being referred-to as ‘orange’ to avoid similar confusion
among consumers and retailers. - Link: Here
among consumers and retailers. - Link: Here
Port Adelaide President David Koch hit the media circuit yesterday calling for wine to be renamed, and has even met with members of parliament to argue his case. “Ollie Wines is one of our best players, and market research is showing that the beverage wine is hurting his cut-through in the market – neutral fans we are trying to attract keep getting wine confused with Ollie Wines. Given his already massive profile, it seems an obvious move to either rename the drink or put strict caveats on the use of the term ‘wine’ when selling it at shops."
The controversy over the Ollie Wines/Wine confusion has
prompted Wine Australia to issue a clarification on the use of the term ‘wine’
when referring to wine. Henry Wilson, General Manager, Regulatory Services noted
the following on the Wine Australia website:
“The word “wine” can signify many things; an alcoholic
beverage, a star Australian Rules Football Player, something an interest group
or region may think is important to their bottom line and want protected/denied
to other people using the term legitimately. But when used to describe the
alcoholic beverage known as wine, it could be an offence under both the Wine
Australia Corporation Act and the Sports Trademark Act to refer to it as wine
without providing a clear indication the product is not in fact Ollie Wines,
the AFL football player, or a product derived from that player.”
Wine commentators and wine producers have been busily
digesting the new clarification on the use of the word ‘wine’,
and were considering alternatives to avoid further confusion with the Port
Adelaide Football Club. Shortlisted alternatives were “Tomayne, Apalleraya, and
Jungle juice”.
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| Confusion: Is this wine or Ollie Wines? |
Wine makers and producers are on notice to consider changing
their labels to fully differentiate between the various uses of the term ‘wine’,
and Wine Australia has encouraged the Australian Wine industry to be proactive
and suggest alternative words to describe their product in anticipation of the
Port Adelaide proposals succeeding in Australian and the European Union
parliaments.
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| Hands off Ollie! - PAFC President David Koch adamant that 3000 years of wine making history will not dilute Ollie Wines' brand image |
*Satire, views expressed are personal satirical opinions, etc. PAFC have nothing to do with any wine related issues, other than encouraging Ollie Wines to help win the AFL Premiership in 2014 and beyond.
