The First Super Bowl Wine Ad in 40 Years Will Air This Sunday

"Can you pass the wings… and the Merlot Reserve, please?" Said nobody, ever.

So, why would a company that sells 8 million cases of wine in the US alone every year need to advertise at $167K per second during the Super Bowl?

Probably because, yeah, they sell 8 million of cases of wine every year—and have a lot of cash to throw around on advertising. With most bottles coming in at under $10, and many under $5, Yellow Tail Wine will have to sell a lot of cases to cover is advertising costs this February, but it will make history in the process.

Why is this newsworthy? Mainly because the commercial will presumably be sandwiched between equally expensive beer ads, and the last thing most Americans associate with the Big Game is a bottle of chardonnay. It's also the first time in since the 70s that a wine company has had the balls to advertise wine during the Super Bowl.

The ad will feature a guy with an Australian accent in a banana yellow suit. His name, appropriately enough, is "Yellow Tail Guy" and he will be accompanied by a robotic marsupial named Roo, which is slightly odd considering that the animal on their wine labels is actually a yellow-footed rock wallaby and not a kangaroo.

Zoological distinctions aside, the stakes are high for the Australian wine, and it's throwing around the expression "Big Game" at every possible turn, like a friendly Australian dude trying to fit in at his first Super Bowl party.

"This year, you'll see something different on the Big Game," the winery says on its website. "You will see Yellow Tail. It's the first time in four decades a wine brand has entered the Big Game arena. Featuring our dynamic duo, the Yellow Tail Guy and his pal Roo, our new campaign will bring the fun to Big Game parties across the country!"

But Yellow Tail, which is produced on a 540-acre Australian vineyard that can store up to 300 million liters at a time, has been pretty crafty in going about its marketing coup. Last month, USA Today reported that the winemaker had been able to get around AB InBev's exclusive national ad rights by targeting 70 local TV markets, which cover about 85 percent of the US. Smart.

And who says you can't drink Australian chardonnay from a red Dixie cup while you're watching the Big Game? It would probably pair nicely with Action Bronson's cacio e pepe chicken wings.

Cheers, mate!