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What is the viral Josh wine trend?

17 January 2024 By James Evison

One of the more bizarre social media trends to start 2024 has been the Josh wine memes, but it also carries an important message for wine marketing.

Around a week ago, something bizarre happened on X (formerly Twitter). A user called @OptimusGrind_ who describes himself as a “snack and wine tester” and has around 32,000 followers posted the below tweet.

I’m not gonna keep telling y’all to grow up and leave that Stella & Barefoot alone pic.twitter.com/XrkSN7zukC

— King Pisces (@OptimusGrind__) January 7, 2024

The post did fairly well, although not what we would normally define as “viral”. At the time of writing, it has received 1,500 likes and had almost 400 comments. Good, but not Kim Kardashian.

The original post was aiming to make a sincere point that as a value for money bottle, priced at under US$15 or £15, it was better than other alternatives, according to Optimus Grind. Many of the comments under the post are about users own good value bottles, rather than memes and jokes.

But, interestingly, it was also been viewed 20 million times. And what happened next was that X users, as well as posters on other social media platforms, got incredibly excited about the wine being called Josh.

Ratio

In perhaps the ultimate version of ‘ratio’ (where a comment performs better than the original post), X users began to fill the platform with funny memes about Josh wine, and how fantastic it was that there was a wine with this popular, traditional boy’s name.

Below are just some of the many, many posts about the wine.

me liking every single Josh wine meme on the internet pic.twitter.com/pvrdxFmUwy

— R/GA (@RGA) January 12, 2024

your name is “Josh?” like the wine?

— jay (@listenupnerds) January 10, 2024

the Josh wine financial analyst trying to explain the jump in sales this weekpic.twitter.com/J9QjWpeHLT

— T (@trinawatters) January 14, 2024

Speaking about the trend, chief brand officer of Josh Cellars, Dan Kleinman, said that he wanted “let the memes flow”.

He said: “It was hard not to notice the hilarious creativity over the past few days. The wittiness of these posts have captivated us and we’re delighted to see our brand be part of the broader social media conversation. As the #1 and fastest growing premium wine brand in America for the past few years, we were a bit surprised that Josh Cellars is just being discovered by some, but we’re always excited to have more people join the party.

“Thank you to our loyal fans for showing all of their love for the brand. Let the memes flow!”

Sales

But I know what you are all thinking…has it impacted sales?

It’s obviously too early to say, but db checked a few retailers and it is still in stock, although judging by reviews and levels of sales it has clearly garnered attention in the past week. Inevitably, this level of exposure across social media is very rare for wine producers and brands.

On Google Trends, “Josh wine memes” and just “Josh” have exploded as search terms in the past few days. But, equally important for the brand, “Josh Cellars”, has also received a lot of hits, as the below graph illustrates.

The producer also has a rather sweet backstory. Josh Cellars was set up in 2007 by Joseph Carr as a tribute to his dad, Josh, and everything that he did for his son. He was a lumberjack, served in the US Army and volunteered as a firefighter. Josh Cellars currently has 11 varietals and a Reserve collection of wines which come from the north coast and Paso Robles areas of California.

The bottle pictured by Optimus Grind is the Merlot, which is sold for US$17.99 and is described by the producer as “soft and inviting, our Merlot is perfectly balanced with rich, fruity flavors and indulgent chocolate notes, rounded with fragrant notes of sweet flowers and spice. On the nose, expect hints of violets, sweet plums, and vanilla beans. In the glass, you’ll experience a velvety and soft texture, with flavours of plums, blackberries, and cherries amplified with a long, cocoa powder finish.”