June 25 2008
Good Grape has a doppelganger; a Bizarro Superman; a nefarious equivalent, if only in name.
In my real life, I am used to this because I am an identical twin and I have gone through life answering to two names and bumping into my brother’s colleagues at the hardware store. Little did I know my online blog life has a like equivalent, as well.
Last night, before nodding off, I was in bed reading the current Cooking Light magazine (zip it for all macho men who are ready to insert a joke about my reading material), and as I was flipping through the very last pages of the magazine, what did I see but a full page ad for a wine commerce site called … Goodgrapes.com
WAIT … A … SECOND …
Immediately I leapt out of bed and checked my godaddy domain registrar account to see when the owner of the site registered the domain—November 2, 2000. For some reason, having beaten the owner of the site, Theresa, to the punch in registering the domain name was immediately important for me to confirm. I registered the name Goodgrape.com in March of 2000. I had beaten her by eight mos. Surely, she wanted goodgrape.com and failing that went with the alternative. Claiming victory, I went to bed.
The origin of the name Good Grape is, unfortunately, not very interesting. I wish I had a better back-story, but it is pretty simple, especially for somebody like me who contemplates detail for sport. I was sitting on the couch of a friend drinking a beer before heading out for some nightlife. My friend and I often talked about business ventures, entrepreneurial aspirations and the like and I was talking about wanting to start a wine commerce site—mind you, this was in the wine online Mesolithic era of 2000. My buddy asked me what I would call it and immediately and without forethought, I blurted out, “Good Grape.” And, my tag line would be “Celebrate the Good Grape.” I wish I had a beautiful Burgundy as a social lubricant to thank for the moment, but it was the influence of a couple of Bud Lights. The next morning I registered the domain.
So, you can imagine my surprise when seeing the ad for Goodgrapes.com and seeing the interestingly peculiar, smiling mug of—undoubtedly—the owner of the site that sells Champagne. Check out the ad here. It breaks about every advertising rule there is for layout. Plus, the models’ cleavage leading to indiscernible breasts is equally interesting. Though, I do have to note her grimaced smile does look as if she has some bubbles … bubbles of the stomach sort …
That aside, it seems like a nice enough site and the owner is likely a small business owner with a wine passion and that’s something I can get behind, even if her business name is a little close for comfort. Raise a toast, bubbles even, to a new entrant to the wine commerce space and my doppelganger, goodgrapes.com.
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