Devoted to branding and building and protecting brands

I'll raise a glass to Francis Ford Coppola who tweaked the brand of his Niebuam-Coppola winery, giving it  not only a new, ahem, appellation (Wineries pouring it on to lure upscale clients ) but a whole new approach to customers.  Re-branded as Rubicon, in the heart of Napa Valley, it eschews the quaffing crowds of Sunday swillers, for so long the mainstay of the business.  Today, for a 25-buck cover charge, you can taste wine, sample some cheese and relax in a civilized setting that won't remind you of your ghosts of Spring Breaks Past.  Losing the limos doesn't figure to hurt sales.  With premium wine in such demand, do wineries need to hawk their product according to business models from the 1970s?  Coppola figured it out, as have dozens of his fellow purveyors.  Cheers!  And cheese.