Do You Know Someone With Middle Child Syndrome?

By Nikki Berglund
Staff Writer

I am not going to lie; coming up with new wine topics the last couple of weeks has been a bit of a struggle. This time of year often becomes more about selling wine than discovering new wines and this makes it a little harder to keep it fresh.

During the holiday season, you’re pretty much looking at your standard holiday food and wine pairing articles along with which Champagnes to serve on New Year’s Eve and my articles around now are certainly no exception.

In the wine retail world, introduction to new wines doesn’t happen again until January when the biggest selling time of the year is over and everyone starts preparing for which new and fantastic wines are going to knock your socks off next year.

Luckily for me, today a good friend suggested I write about the Middle Sister Wines from the Canopy Management Wine Company, new to North Dakota as of last month. These babies have been flying off the shelves since we got them, but I assumed it mainly had to do with some really great packaging. To my surprise it turns out that even though there is some serious marketing genius going on here, these wines offer much more than meets the eye!

As I started researching The Canopy Management Wine Company, I thought I was looking at a fairly cookie-cutter article on some cute wines for the ladies, but what I found was something completely unexpected; an incredibly inspiring story about some really cool chicks in the wine world.

What started as some basic research online turned into ten different open windows on my computer because the website led to so many other great pages and links to other, equally intriguing websites. Their compelling story made me a believer that these are not your everyday average girly wines!

The Canopy Management Wine Company out of California was founded by one pretty impressive-sounding woman by the name of Terry Wheatley along with her two friends Susan Lombardi and Erin Wassum. She started her own company with 30 years of wine experience under her belt, having worked for such powerhouses as E&J Gallo and Sutter Home Winery.

One of her main goals when starting her own company was to add a “female point of view to the male dominated world of wine.” The focus is not solely on wine, but also female empowerment, and giving back to the community, all while harnessing the power of social media to really increase their exposure.

I have never been much of an “I bought it because the label was cute” type of gal. In fact, when presented with wines in this category I usually run the other way. People have been asking for these for months though and when I saw the package for the first time, I did have to admit they were pretty damn adorable.

The wines are meant to personify the different types of “middle sisters” of the family. Whether you have the pleasure of having a middle sister or not, you are certain to find at least a hint of their personality or someone you know in one of the “sisters.”

So without further adieu here are the ladies…There are two blends in the group, a white and a red. Rebel Red consists of three varietals, Zinfandel, Merlot, and Cabernet. The white blend, Wicked White, is a blend of Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, and Gewürztraminer.

For the single red varietals, there is Forever Cool Merlot, Mischief Maker Cabernet Sauvignon, and Goody Two Shoes Pinot Noir, a humongous hit in my store!  For the whites there is the Drama Queen Pinot Grigio, the Smarty Pants Chardonnay, the Surfer Chick Sauvignon Blanc, and the newest member of the guild, Sweet and Sassy Moscato who enjoys the designation as the first Middle Sister of Color. These wines retail for $10-$11 per bottle when not on sale.

Unlike a large majority of wines in this category of cuteness, the quality on the inside matches the creative effort on the outside. Using only wine sourced from the premium wine growing appellations of California, this company has no problem with creating niche wines with mass appeal since they are doing so while also creating great wine. Often you can find one or the other, but it is really rare to find both. Among the girls, they have accumulated over fifty Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals from major national wine competitions.

Perhaps the coolest thing about the Canopy Management Wine Company is their dedication to female-focused charitable organizations such as Dress for Success and Wine, Women, and Shoes just to name a couple. In fact on the back of each bottle it states, “We donate a dime a bottle to causes women care about,” with a minimum of $10,000 being donated each year.

I can’t finish this article without mentioning the Wine Sisterhood (http://www.winesisterhood.com), a group consisting of the women of CMWC and 10,000-plus other women who are dedicated to the use of social media in their pursuit of creative marketing solutions to help promote these and other female owned and operated wine companies. If you are into Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and that sort of thing check this site out.

These are not the only wines in this portfolio, but as I started researching this I found that what I thought was going to be a short and sweet article quickly morphed into something much much more so I will leave it to you dear reader to check the rest of what these gals have to offer for yourself!

At the end of my journey, I had not only found a ton of information for my article, but also joined a cheese club (http://www.cheesewhizzes.com), came across a delicious sounding recipe for brussel sprouts (yes brussel sprouts!) and definitely found a new love and respect for Middle Sister Wines.

As a woman who also finds herself a minority in this still very male-dominated industry (imagine living in Fargo, girls!), I have found this story inspiring and these women to be kindred souls. I look forward to seeing what other tricks these girls have up their sleeves in the future.

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