You Can’t Judge a Wine By Its Label?

Just as you can’t judge a book by its cover, I have always believed that you can’t judge a wine by its label. Granted, wine labels contain quite a bit of useful information, such as the Brand Name, the country and region the wine comes from, the vintage, the grape used, the name of the vineyard, the volume, sweetness, alcohol content, and all other information required by the laws of the country in which the product is being sold. However, all of this information, along with the requisite eye catching picture or illustration, cannot tell you exactly how a wine is going to taste or if you are going to like it.

My decision to purchase a bottle of wine is usually based on a recommendation from a friend or family member, a previous experience with the wine at a restaurant or dinner party, or, how I discover most of the wines I like, and don’t like, by perusing the liquor store and selecting a bottle or two of wine I have never had before. Fortunately, by using this latter method of choosing wines I have come home with wines I like more often than wines I don’t. Though some of them were wines I wouldn’t buy a second time I have very rarely purchased a wine that I just could not drink. You know, those wines that you will either cook with or keep until you have a party, then put them out hoping someone will drink them.

Only once in my life have I ever chosen a wine based solely on the label, and not the part of the label containing all of the information mentioned above, but the label illustration. I was engaged in one of my favorite weekend activities, strolling through the isles of my neighborhood liquor store. I was making my way up the French wine isle when I spotted the most attractive wine label I had ever seen. It was an illustration of a young lady in a pink sweater, her hair in a ponytail, an orange scarf round her neck, bicycling past a vineyard toward a young man in a blue sport coat over a black turtleneck sweater.

I am not sure why, maybe because the illustration reminded me of one of my favorite books, A Good Year by Peter Mayle, but I was instantly drawn to this label, and by association, the wine. It was a Mommessin, Beaujolais. I had never had a Mommessin wine before, nor had I ever had a Beaujolais before, so I only bought three bottles.

I loved the wine. Which I am really happy about because I had bought three bottles, and more importantly, I would have been awfully disappointed had the bottle adorned with my all time favorite label contained a wine I did not like. But, as it turned out, providence in this case was on my side, and I had discovered what is now one of my favorite wines. Which goes to show that sometimes you can judge a wine by its label.

Anyway, I must run. I have to go top up my glass.

cheers,

Stephen