Paso Robles, CA – O’Neill Vintners & Distillers, a leading California-based producer of premium wines, brandy and spirits, has acquired the Rabble wine brand. Founded by Paso Robles- based vineyard manager Rob Murray in 2010, the Rabble wine brand rose rapidly in popularity among consumers, particularly millennials, seeking out adventurous, paradigm-shattering yet principled brands. Murray’s vision for the brand included a suite of boldly colored, boundary pushing labels that featured ancient battles, allegorical scenes, and animals of fable and lore. Murray, known for his rebellious choices and progressive, creative branding, was the first vintner in the nation to employ augmented reality technology in wine labelling, thereby injecting a sense of movement and play onto a stationary bottle of wine. This inventive technology, in tandem with Murray’s incorporation of over 400 types of crypto currency as forms of payment, resulted in Rabble being recognized as one of the nation’s more advanced and radical wine brands. Murray earmarked a percentage of profits from Rabble for “1 % for the Planet”, joining companies like Patagonia, Boxed Water and Honest Tea, in giving to vetted environmental non-profit organizations.
O’Neill Vintners was founded in 2004 by Jeff O’Neill, a third generation Californian whose family has roots in winemaking dating back to 1934. Today, O’Neill Vintners is the 7th largest winery in California, and is recognized for its consistently quality-oriented portfolio of diverse wines from throughout the Golden State. “O’Neill is laser focused on creating sustainable growth through our innovative brands and introducing younger generations to the world of wine. Rob has created a unique disruptive brand that strives to maintain relevance in an industry that frequently finds itself a little behind. His efforts resonate with forward-thinking, millennial wine drinkers. Rabble fits well within our growing portfolio of nationally distributed brands,” says O’ Neill.
A life-long farmer and imaginative, inventive thinker, Murray will now divide his time between family duties and his Tooth & Nail Wine Company. The seasoned and talented winemaker, Jeremy Leffert will continue to direct winemaking at Tooth & Nail Winery, Amor Fati, Stasis and Destinata, a brand Murray will re-launch in 2021 that will be dedicated to natural wines. The aforementioned brands are under Murray’s artistic purview and ownership. Continuing his explorations into the world of augmented reality technology, Murray is set to debut a new line extension in the spring of 2021, under the Tooth & Nail wine brand, bringing animated street art-inspired images— every image with its own origin story— to each bottle of wine. The labels, set to debut in early February of next year, will mark Murray’s continued foray into experimental, modern, interactive art. The wines bottled under the new labels will demonstrate Leffert’s and Murray’s continued commitment to sustainably farmed wines of character, dimension, and attitude.
“I’m looking forward to pushing the boundaries even further creatively at Tooth & Nail Wine Company,” Murray says. “Our customers are especially important to me and my team. They have come to expect the unexpected from us, and we’re not going to disappoint. I’m working with a few artists, Edward Walton Wilcox among them, whose work will elevate the marriage between wine and art at Tooth and Nail Winery to a new, unprecedented level.” Wilcox’s art has been described by the Los Angeles Times as “Southern California Noir.” Wilcox’s work has also been featured in Flaunt magazine, and Art and Living, which states, “Edward Walton Wilcox’s work exhibits an eerie quality that is hard to keep your eyes off of…the suggestions he makes are often unsettling. His images are dark, yes, but it’s a darkness that Wilcox suggests should be more closely examined.”
Murray continues, “I can’t think of a better team than Jeff’s at ‘O Neill to lead and direct the Rabble wine brand towards an even more promising evolution. I’m very proud of what I created with Rabble and I’m excited to see what the ‘O Neill team does to make Rabble even more compelling for future audiences.”
Details of the purchase were not disclosed. To learn more about Tooth & Nail Wine Company, please visit www.toothandnail.com. To learn more about ‘O Neill Vintners and Distillers, please visit www.oneillwines.com.
Photos courtesy of Tooth & Nail Wine Company.
