Wine labels will do it. How many times have you bought a wine because of its label? I know I have. Be it creative or just familiar, labels can make or break the wines sales. And I will admit right now that I have bought some ridiculously designed and named wines. There was ‘Bitch’, which had a pink label in black lettering. Don’t get me wrong, it was well priced and a quite enjoyable Grenache from Australia. Why did I buy it? Because my friend and I thought it was funny. A few weeks later I was back in that same wine store and I witnessed the same scene, two friends walk up the counter to purchase their wines and see ‘Bitch’ conveniently located at the register. The one friend turns to the other and starts laughing and they immediately pick it up and add it to their pile. Smart product placing.

Then there was Evil, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia. I’m waiting for the right birthday to surprise a friend of mine with a bottle of ‘Bitch’ and a bottle of ‘Evil’. I know it sounds mean, but listen they’re still getting wine out of the deal. I guess because of the Yellow Tail success, Australian wines feel they have to be uber creative to make a dent. This brings me to the next Australian wine, Suxx. I haven’t bought this one yet, but ‘Suxx’ Syrah does sound tempting.

Sometimes it’s the artistry on the bottle that draws me in. Last week I had this fantastically delicious, angels dancing on your tongue wine. James Iafrati did the label art for ‘Jazz’. “The Jazz Quartet: Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah’ drew us in. From the Branham Estate Wines in Napa Valley, ‘Jazz’ is a bit pricier, but completely worth it. Did I mention that angels will be dancing on your tongue?

Don’t get me wrong, just because the label is awesome doesn’t mean the wine will follow suit. When I see a creative label, I think two things: maybe they are covering up their horrible wine with a cool label or possibly this wine is equal in its creativity and taste. Nine out of ten times I buy it because that’s how I do. Say it’s that one time I didn’t buy the bottle, well I’ll think about going and purchasing it until finally I go and buy it. I’ll let you know how that one tastes. What’s the lesson here? Just buy the wine. Buy those outrageous sounding wines and as always Wine Your Diet.

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