Josh wine: The ultimate mid brand goes viral
“Josh is thriving,” said Ali Francis in Bon Appétit. And no, “I’m not talking about your middle-school crush who now works as an accountant for a real estate firm.” Josh Cellars, the ubiquitous wine brand, inspired a viral wave of winking memes last month simply because someone on X posted an image of a bottle of Josh and declared it superior to bargain brands Barefoot and Stella Rosa. The reason Josh is funny to so many people is plain: “You just don’t expect to see a normie dude name in the wine aisles,” especially emblazoned on labels in “a self-serious cursive font.” But the online gags wouldn’t have been so plentiful if Josh wasn’t already huge in real life, selling more than 72 million bottles annually. Thanks in part to brilliant distribution, which even has it in CVS drugstores, “Josh has become the everyman wine brand that somehow just shows up at your house.”
Whatever the intent of that initial social media post, it was also “unequivocally right,” said Luke Winkie in Slate. “Wine critics across the board respect Josh.” Wine Spectator scores the brand’s offerings at 80 to 89 points—the “very good” range—and Josh has twice been named Wine Enthusiast’s American Winery of the Year. Launched in 2007 by a former sommelier who named the venture after his firefighter dad, the California brand scored by aiming for a higher quality and price than many mass-market wines. At $12 to $25 a bottle, Josh is now the fastest-growing label in the U.S. and No. 1 for wines above $10. And I, for one, was served enough Franzia in college that I’m glad Americans are growing up. “If the Josh memes enshrine the cellar as the budget wine du jour, then, folks, we’re in good hands.”