I think the first label that really and truely grabbed my attention was Bonny Doon's Cardinal Zin, shortly after I turned 21. How could I resist Ralph Steadman's art (especially since I was a big Hunter S. Thompson fan)? Of course, until I had graduated from college and secured a job in "the real world" my budget usually allowed only for jugs of cheap Burgundy. At any rate, the Cardinal Zin caught my eye and I bought it mostly because of the label.


These days, when you walk into a wine shop you will probably be dazzled by the variety of labels decorating the bottles on the shelves. It seems that wineries are trying to outdo each other sometimes; who can create the most clever name, who can create the most attention-grabbing label. Of course when it comes right down to it, the label matters less than the wine inside. But if you're looking at two bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon that are both priced the same, and you don't know anything about them, are you more likely to pick the bottle with a "boring," plain label or the one the that shows a little more flair? Right or wrong, people often pick the label with a bit more pizazz.

As discussed in a recent Bloomberg article, a label has a lot of influence over consumer buying habits:

"The Shinas Estate had a terrible label but great wines,'' says [Ronnie Sanders of Philadelphia's Vine Street Imports]. "Their shiraz was called Shallow Creek, and the label was a picture of where the owner went fishing. It took me two years to sell 600 cases.''

Shinas's owner was a criminal court judge, so Sanders suggested changing the labels so they ``tell a story.'' The winery called its next shiraz The Guilty and its viognier The Innocent. This fall, Sanders expects to sell 5,000 cases of the Shinas Estate brands, up 20 percent from last year and more than 16 times what he sold before the labels were changed.

In the shop where I work, there have been a few decent bottles of wine (Duck Pond Chardonnay springs to mind) that I had a hard time moving because the labels were... let's just say lackluster. When making purchasing decisions, wine shop owners have to know their clientele, as well. Younger, hipper wine buyers might be more willing to try something with a name like Passion Has Red Lips (a Cabernet/Shiraz blend from Australia), or Bitch (an Aussie Grenache), but a shop in a more conservative neighborhood might not do as well with these.

I love hearing of creative names for wine and checking out unique labels (I really should start collecting them again). What are your favorites?