News

Speaking of violent sports and wine, Unfiltered spoke a bit too soon a couple weeks ago when we predicted New Zealand's All Blacks to steamroll France in the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The French produced a stunning upset, sending the All Blacks home and the French countryside into a frenzy. Among those who had to be especially happy with the win were the winemakers at the Saint Marc cooperative winery in the Southern Rhône Valley. Throughout the tournament, a series of ads on local billboards and in newspapers have featured hefty, red-faced, headband-laden winegrowers romping through their vineyards (in one case, trying to tackle an innocent-looking grape picker). The ads were created to promote the AOC Côtes du Ventoux by offering the chance to win tickets to the World Cup matches held in nearby Marseille. "We are less well-known than our Rhône Valley neighbors so we have to use an original, tongue-in-cheek way of grabbing the spotlight," said the winery's marketing manager Mathieu Pancin. "Co-op winegrowers and rugby players share the same values—self-derision, camaraderie and determination—so it wasn't hard to find volunteers for the photo shoot." Sounds like they'd have even less trouble finding volunteers to take on rival Rhône winemakers in a game of rugby. We'd pay to see that.

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