(Wines&Vines) - Experts say: Settle on brand image before naming. “You want to have a simple, memorable name that is not too difficult to pronounce or spell,” said Dr. Liz Thach, wine business professor at Sonoma State University.
“If you have a lot of foreign customers, make sure your name doesn’t have a different meaning in other languages. Your winery name should be both unique and simple. A lot of people use their last name, but if it’s too common, that can be dangerous unless you can differentiate yourself,” said Thach, whose own name is pronounced not “thatch,” but “Toch” (rhymes with Mayor Koch).
Thach addressed winery naming after a discussion among Wines & Vines colleagues who had looked up an iconic California winery in WinesVinesDATA only to discover a plethora of wine brands using similar names. It turns out that the famous Ridge Vineyards of Cupertino, Calif., shares part of its identity with 199 wine brands in North America