Who all has seen Austin Powers? (Yes I am about to use Austin Powers as an example.don’t judge me.) There is a scene in Austin Powers with Fred Savage, an awesome dude by the way, where Savage wears a giant prosthetic mole on his face. Powers (Mike Myers) tries to have a conversation with Savage’s character, but despite his best efforts, the most advanced dialogue Powers can speak is “Moley, moley, moley, moley, mole!” The mole is too ugly to see beyond. It also has a hair growing out of it..(Why do moles always tend to grow the longest hairs? There must be a scientific explanation for this.)
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Wine labels can often be like this mole, as well (because the labels are ugly, not because they grow hair). I am not a graphic designer by any means, but sometimes labels are just plain bad. And despite consumers’ best efforts, they are influenced by bad labels. Think about it. if you are shopping in a wine store, comparing two bottles that you have never tried, and one bottle has a label that is absolutely atrocious and the other looks cool, which bottle are you going to pick? Luckily for us in the know, this often results in great wines being discounted simply because their label is bad. So next time you are in a wine shop, look for the ugly duckling, it could be a swan at a great bargain price. (Really, if all else fails, and the label starts distracting from the wine, just put a bag on it!)
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Here are some of my favorite wines in my not so favorite labels:
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2005 Cerro Vino Nobile di Montepulciano – No matter who you are your portrait should not be on a wine label. Never. Despite this major label error, the wine is actually an extremely layered and structured version of Sangiovese.
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2006 Mesa Buio – Enigmatic is cool. But this is simply a lack of information with a distracting design. A label should always have the producer, D.O.C. or name of wine, and hopefully the vintage on the front. This label would have been better if it simply read, “Great Carignano from Sardegna.”
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2004 Cortaccia Lagrein “Freienfeld” – I don’t even know where to start. Distracting writing in the background, a blurry, hard to discern picture, bright gold writing.all of which have nothing to do with the wine. The wine is an earthy, medium-bodied Lagrein that immediately transports you to the foothills of the Alps, if you can get past the label.
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The Wine Dude abides,
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David
