McLaren Vale winery d'Arenberg asked to rebrand cheekily-named Dadd sparkling white by prestigious G. H. Mumm champagne brand
MCLAREN VALE winery d'Arenberg's in a David and Goliath battle after being asked to rebrand its Dadd sparkling white by the owners of the G. H. Mumm champagne brand.
CHESTER Osborn reckons most people could tell their Mumm from their Dadd, but global drinks giant Pernod Ricard isn't so sure.
The chief winemaker at McLaren Vale winery d'Arenberg has been asked to rebrand his cheekily-named Dadd sparkling white, after it came to the attention of the owners of the prestigious G. H. Mumm champagne brand.
Osborn reckons his product isn't much of a threat to the Mumm brand, which sponsors Formula One globally and probably sells more than D'Arenberg's 1000-2000 case annual run over a typical Melbourne Cup weekend.
As well as the spelling with the double "D" imitating Mumm's double "M", both products have a diagonal red stripe on the label.
"We've had a few letters, the first actually came from the distributor in England,'' Mr Osborn said.
"We thought, they've got a lot of money (so we won't fight them). We've sent them a letter saying we'll phase out the use of Dadd over 15 months.''
Osborn said they've been using the red stripe branding for more than 50 years so they intend to keep using that.
"And there are plenty of other red stripes out there in the industry,'' he said.
"I would have thought anything that draws attention to your brand, and I don't think anyone could get their mum confused with their dad.''
The Dadd branding actually refers to the four generations of the Osborn family which have tended the 19th century vineyards at their d'Arenberg winery in McLaren Vale since 1912.
Osborn is yet to hear back from Pernod Ricard.
G. H. Mumm has recently increased in popularity in Australia and is the third biggest selling champagne in country. At events such as the Melbourne Cup, bottles are often opened using the technique of sabrage, in which a sword or specially-designed sabre is used to chop the top off the top of the bottle.
Osborn said Dadd picked up a gold medal for the second year running at the Royal Hobart wine show recently.
Pernod Ricard declined to comment as it was an unresolved legal matter.