2018: Day 13 (Bonus!)
Chain Reaction! There. We said it. For 16 months, we’ve been sitting on this poorly kept secret not knowing exactly when it was safe to announce the name of our winery. Pretty much from the day we bought this property (or shortly thereafter) in 2017, we decided on the name Chain Reaction. However, we didn’t know how to ‘secure’ the name. We asked many people, but really didn’t get great answers since 2 different things need to happen. First, the government needs to approve it as a suitable name for marketing purposes (i.e. it can’t be offensive on a label). You do this when you apply for a wine manufacturing license. Until recently, we thought we were years away from doing this. Secondly, you never know if a name will get challenged unless you have a trademark. One of our favourite wineries, Ruby Blues, was once called Ruby Tuesday until the large American restaurant chain decided to make an issue of it since they hold an international trademark.
Earlier this month we applied for a Canadian trademark on the name Chain Reaction. Though there are 2 other companies with Chain Reaction trademarks, neither is in the wine and spirits business. We probably won’t know for close to a year if there is an issue, but I’m wagering that it won’t be an issue. We’re also in the process of applying for our wine manufacturing license which requires us to disclose the proposed name. We won’t know if it’s approved until we hear back from them – likely in the April timeframe. So, we’re cautiously optimistic that all will be well. I hated keeping that secret. Plus, I wasn’t very good at keeping it a secret since I love talking about it. We just hated not being in a position to discuss it with people who were interested in hearing about it. Now that we understand the process much better, we’re willing to take this risk. Plus, marketing and branding are super important and it’s never too early to begin that messaging.
About the name. It’s no secret that we wanted to somehow tie in cycling (if you ask Linda) and triathlon (if you ask me) into our brand. We’ve been able to say that much about our theme since day 1. Outdoor sports (and wine) is what drew us to the Okanagan long before we knew we wanted to make this home. We also wanted a name that would be edgy, catchy, easy to spell and pronounce, as well as something that we felt would capture our personalities. Well, after 16 months of letting it percolate in our minds, we still love the name – it hasn’t worn thin. We think (we hope) it will have appeal to younger emerging demographics as well as established markets. We will make some fun, light wines as well as some seriously complex wines. A second cool thing that drew us to the name is that there were a series of ‘chain reactions’ that led us to where we are: wanting to get away from office jobs after 30 years, and instead focus on what we love, others (ahem, Robbie!) making bold moves that inspired us, and realizing that we’re not immortal – you just never know when your time is up. Make the most of life now while we’re still young … or youngish … okay, not old. Lastly, there’s a chain reaction of events and processes that start in the vineyard through to the bottle. We will be involved in each of those steps. We don’t plan to grow to a point where we need to hire a full time team because it’s too big for us. We want to start small and remain small. The day this feels like work (i.e. not loving what we’re doing) is the day we’ve probably failed.
Chain Reaction (the drink) is purple. There weren’t really any other prerequisites. I somehow think purple will be incorporated into our branding (if not, man am I in trouble!!). Oh, and grapes are purple.
2 oz. Empress 1908 gin (it’s purple!)
1.5 oz Crème de Violette liqueur (another purple beauty)
1 oz rhubarb simple syrup (somewhat purplish but not really)
3 drops of lavender bitters (not purple, but they should be)
1 oz. lime juice (if it looks purple, stop drinking!)
1 egg white
All the ingredients except for the egg white were shaken with ice to help dilute the drink and bring down the temperature. The ice was removed and the egg white was then added and shaken vigorously to help create a foamy layer. Leaving the ice in would interfere with the chemical chain reaction which creates the foam.
Well, that wraps up the 12 Days of Drinking for 2018 (except for some champagne a little later in the evening). 2018 was certainly an eventful year. We’re really looking forward to what 2019 has to offer. Bring it on, baby!
