Pouring for the Presidency
LA-based company sells Donkey and Elephant labeled wine, urging people to vote
It pairs well with chocolate and doesn’t leave a bitter aftertaste, says Lyn Macomber, who has been buying wine labeled with a Democrat blue donkey and a Republican red elephant for the past year. Macomber is an ardent fan of Schmor Wine, an LA-based distributor which launched the quirky red blend--the same wine in each bottle--to add zing to this election season. She praises its plum, strawberry and blackberry pepper notes with a hint of floral rose to temper the puckery taste.
“I bought the elephant before the donkey but I like both,” said Macomber, an interior decorator who often serves the wine at social gatherings."
It’s clients like Macomber who are boosting profits for Leah Canon, partner and promoter of Schmor Wine, which has been distributing the brand’s Elephant and Donkey labeled bottles as campaign merchandise for the last five years. The bottles are adorned with shiny blue or red ties and party logos on the labels urge the wine consumer to “Vote.”
“The idea is to get the word out there for people to vote. Every person has a voice and every voice should matter,” Canon said.
She admits the two wines are exactly the same, except that they taste totally different to the customer “depending on your inclination or preference.”
It took several months for the wine distributor to get a federal license to market her wines across the country. Even then she found it difficult to distribute to certain states which have a monopoly over wholesaling and retailing alcoholic beverages. She also faced restrictions on selling boutique wines (from orchards less than 100 acres). Canon found it hard to access domestic sales, so she has been marketing her wine cases to corporate and private clients for events, debates and conferences. “Last election you had the incumbent running, but this time you have fresh energy and more patriotism. Overall, there’s a spike in sales because people are so divided,” Canon said.
Though she is using the campaign to increase her online sales, Canon doesn’t like to think of the election as entirely a marketing gimmick. She says high-end products like wine encourage patriotism and get people to talk about freedom. “A lot of wine shops or mom-and-pop companies don’t want my wine because people are angry at how politics has played out lately. They are angry with their choices and even with their own parties,” she said. “But people doing events and hosting politicians love to order my wine.”
Canon uses social media extensively to leverage her brand. Recently, she received requests from three senators--an Independent and two Republicans--who want her to donate wine for specific events, arguing that it will help promote her election-themed spirits. Recently, the wine entrepreneur donated several bottles to a fundraising event hosted by the non-profit service organization, Veterans of Foreign War’s museum, in California’s Simi Valley. Those attendees who thought they had made a difference and had propelled the cause of freedom through fighting leaned more towards the Elephant bottles, Canon said. The ones who said they are tired of American’s continued military engagements overseas gravitated towards Donkey wine.
Retired army helicopter pilot Wayne Wright says he loves seeing both wine labels at these events. “Before the war veterans start drinking at banquet dinners there’s a sense of polarization in the air. But after a few glasses, the spirit of bipartisanship takes over,” Wright said. But Canon admits that even though she started the election season with the same number of bottles, she has less Elephant wine available now than Donkey.
Another southern California winemaker, Will Regan, believes politics doesn’t always have to be solemn and it’s possible to have a little fun with it. “Election merchandise has become much more pervasive this time and everybody wants media attention to get their ideas across,” said Regan, who is also a film locations scout.
He notes that small business owners who sell partisan products may run the risk of aligning themselves with one or the other party. But Canon is not afraid of adding a little political humor to her marketing. She thinks that big debates and conventions are akin to Super Bowl games, where people drink wine, support their chosen teams and even curse the opponent.
Humor, slander and gimmickry may all be part of current campaign marketing, but for wine enthusiasts like Canon, political merchandizing won’t end with the November vote. She wants to pair chocolates with wine in the next election and spread her net wider. “I might even make Libertarian bottles since that party’s percentage has gone up in the U.S.,” she says.
