ProWein: Iron Maiden strikes a chord with new Douro DOC wine

Iron Maiden has teamed up with importer and distributor Ehrmanns Wine to create a wine inspired by one of the heavy metal band’s most recent songs.

Taking inspiration from the band’s 2021 song Darkest Hour, Iron Maiden Darkest Red is a Douro DOC still red (also from the 2021 vintage) sourced from historic producer Van Zeller Wine Collection.

Launching the product at ProWein, Ehrmanns Wine head of sales Paul Daniell told the drinks business that the band expressed interest in the company’s other Portugese wines and also that it was a happy coincidence that frontman Bruce Dickinson spoke at the Wine Future conference in Coimbra, Portugal last year as this Portuguese table wine was in development.

“This has been in the works for a year,” he said. “We chose Douro DOC because it’s in growth. There’s a buzz about Portuguese wines. If we did another Malbec, it would just be another Malbec – this is something different. It’s a disruptive wine in a disruptive category.”

“We wanted to do something that was unexpected,” added head of marketing Keith Lay. “You might not think of a rock band for a wine brand – it had to be the right match. Kylie Minogue works with rosé, this had to be a red, but we didn’t want it to be too obvious.”

The band was also involved in the process of choosing the wine, as Dickinson was with the launch of the Trooper beer brand through Stockport brewery Robinsons.

“Bruce is a no half measures kind of guy,” suggested Daniell.

The blend, consisting of indigenous Douro red grapes including Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz (better known as Tempranillo), was matured in old Port barrels for 6-9 months and clocks in at 13.5% ABV.

While it might be for a heavy metal band, the wine itself veers towards the lighter side in terms of freshness, though with a strong black fruit character and inky colour befitting its name.

A serenade of glory

“We were aiming for a commercial red that’s easy to drink and has soft tannins,” Daniell explained, before drawing the comparison between another musician-backed wine success story – 19 Crimes Snoop Dogg Cali Red.

But beyond the contents, the bottle itself is a key selling point. Sporting the latest iteration of ‘Eddie’, the band’s iconic mascot that, features on the paper wrapped around the bottle. The particular image of Eddie used is that from Iron Maiden’s current global tour, The Future Past.

“It’s a gift for lazy people,” joked Daniell. “It’s already wrapped!” The bottles on display at ProWein even came with a gift tag already attached.

According to data provided by Ehrmanns Wine, Iron Maiden fans will on average spend many times more on merchandise than other concert-goers, splashing out £32.79 compared to £4.45

Whether the wine, which has an RRP of around £12, will be made available to fans of the band at Iron Maiden gigs is currently unclear, but it was suggested that given the bottle’s striking design, it has appeal both as a collector’s item and in the off-trade channel in particular.

“People won’t be throwing the bottle away afterwards, they’ll keep it on their shelf,” opined Daniell.

It was also noted that, despite the band celebrating its half-century next year, the age range of its fan base, and the continuing popularity of Eddie on t-shirts and posters even among younger generations, means that Ehrmanns Wine is confident that the Darkest Red might go some way to cracking that most elusive demographic for the wine industry – Gen Z.

Due to his work on the Trooper beer brand, Dickinson recently supplied the foreword for the Good Beer Guide.