What women don’t want: perfume shaped wine bottles!

I’m going out on a limb here and say that women don’t really want their wine in perfume-shaped wine bottles.

But that’s just what the grappa distillery Mazzetti d’Altavilla is making with their new “Essentia Vitae.” Here’s what someone who hailed it as the packaging innovation of the week had to say.

“While perfume-inspired wine may be an acquired taste, Essentia Vitae goes further than most to connect to female consumers. Its perfume-like packaging should break through the crowded product assortments that can often confound shoppers.”

Argh, those crowded product assortments confusing women wine shoppers! Apparently the wines come in three different flavors/aromas/varieties: No. 4 Ruche – jasmine scent, No. 6 Malvasia – rose scent, and No. 8 Moscato – violet scent. What that exactly means is not clear–are they for drinking or dousing?

My bold prediction: these will go the way of Beringer’s White Lie and the French WineSight. Dammit, marketers, gendered approaches to marketing are best left to important things like razors blades and deodorants!

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16 Responses to “What women don’t want: perfume shaped wine bottles!”


  1. Definitely agree. Just the thought of it puts a bad taste in my mouth…


  2. It looks like nail polish remover. One suspects that it would taste like grappa. Maybe Berlusconi would take over the marketing.


  3. I am so tired of being pandered to! Women want good wine… is that so hard to understand? So many wine makers are creating ‘wines for women’. What does that mean? Each person has their own palette preferences, not each gender. It’s insulting when companies do ‘market research’ and determine that selling to women is good business and that we buy things because they are pretty, sweet or pink. Stop spending on the research and start giving me great wine!


  4. I agree that marketing to genders, in most cases, ends up being plain old offensive. But I also wonder how many winemakers would like their wines to be associated with perfume scents. Good wine tastes just that but good perfumes taste horrible. I would think their research would have stopped them there.


  5. Tyler, You’ve nailed it. I want good wine. All the rest is irrelevant.


  6. So I’m supposed to buy “jasmine-scented” wine…in a perfume bottle? Their assortment doesn’t even sound appealing. I suppose the perfume bottle marketing ploy might be appealing to those in need of a more effeminate hip-flask, but to me it comes off as patronizing. I’m a woman and I know how to shop for wine (despite the “crowded product assortment”) without cutesy gimmicks


  7. This just looks awful! They would be better off marketing it as flavored water. I’m not sure any consumer, educated or not, will know what to do with this if seen in an store …


  8. Yeah, I’m just not sure I could get past thinking I was drinking perfume. Even with it tasting like wine (if it is in fact for drinking) I would still have perfume flavors in my mouth…funny how the brain works.


  9. This will be a cover story in Bob McMath’s next version of “What Were They Thinking”


  10. While we may want innovative packaging for good wine for women, this ain’t it! How about some more boxed wines, you packaging people? It’s mo green and we women, we like that!


  11. […] because true women would have to neck about 10 of those to get any kind of buzz, otherwise. [Dr Vino, Beverage Daily and Packaging News via The Guardian] Tagged:alcoholdesigngeek […]


  12. […] distillery Mazzetti d’Altavilla’s Essentia Vitae, recently launched in Germany and Italy, is a beverage designed to appeal to female consumers by […]


  13. […] Dr. Vino is disgusted by move of an Italian winery to put their wine in perfume-shaped bottles to appeal to women. I concur. As Dr. Vino screams, “Dammit, marketers, gendered approaches to marketing are best left to important things like razors blades and deodorants!” […]


  14. […] [via DrVino] […]


  15. […] wine blogger Dr. Vino captures it best: “Dammit, marketers, gendered approaches to marketing are best left to important things like […]


  16. […] an on-target critique from Dr. Vino: “Argh, those crowded product assortments confusing women wine shoppers! Apparently the wines […]


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