The label.

Tonight our instructor was back in class, returned from his jaunt to New York and Spain (Rioja).  A review of last week's 'Shark Tank' was first on the agenda.
Apparently, our instructor has it on good authority that the Sharks were simply "blown away" with all four student-presentations last week.  How special. On a more personal note though, the powers that be at the college are seriously interested in trademarking my group's redesign of the college's wine label.  From the comments my group received during both presentations of our business plan, I could tell that the new concept-label we came up with was a real contender for being considered as the new brand for Napa Valley College.  Fame at last. Yea, right.

Label it drinkable.

More on  wine labels.  In tonight's wine marketing class we discussed what exactly constitutes a wine brand's shelf appeal.  And how a winery can make their brand stand out from all the hundreds of other wine bottles on the supermarket/wine shop's shelf.
The initial impact that a label can make on a consumer is very important: the right design can act as a 'billboard' that will catch the consumer's eye and make an immediate and favourable impression. Besides all the legal mumbo jumbo that must be included on a wine label, a label should make a strong statement and be conspicuous and snazzy.  But at the same time a label should be smart, tasteful and classic - something that says that the wine inside the packaging is, after all, ultimately drinkable. The copy in the textbook says; "...create a label that is big, bright, stylish, bold, elegant, loud, sophisticated, flashy..."  So I am thinking that just a touch of schizophrenia can be a desirable thing in a label designer.  Yikes!
My label is striking, is it not?  But I'm afraid it may get pigeon-holed as a critter wine!  Double yikes!

Taking a Gamble.

I am often guilty of buying wine just because I like the label.  It can be a bit of a gamble (sorry, couldn't resist) selecting wine in this manner, but that's just the daredevil-type person I am (yea, right).  Sometimes the gamble pays off, but more often than not the wine turns out to be not so good.  When the wine turns out to be a winner I generally feel very pleased with myself.  The Gamble Family Vineyards, 2012 Sauvignon blanc (Yountville) is one such wine.  However, I chose this particular bottle of wine because of it's back label. 
Now, I don't normally like labels to have too much information on them.  I am more interested in the wine than somebody waffling on about their family history etc., but this label happens to be informative and fun.  I was interested to learn that this Savignon blanc (SB) is made from two different clones of SB; Sauvignon Musque (from the Loire) and the Preston clone (from Graves).  Am I familiar with these two clones?  Can I taste each of these clone's unique characteristics?  No, on both counts.  But it does get me thinking about viticulture and all the other stuff I love about wine other than simply how the wine tastes.  As it happens, this SB tasted great; nicely balanced acidity, a mouth-filling mid-palate, nice tropical fruit expression (with lashings of sweet candied-pineapple) and a satisfyingly long finish.
The fun stuff?  I like the inclusion of the case production figure - I just find it an interesting little factoid.  And I love the line, "...slowly made into wine by Gamble Family Vineyards" - because I agree with the old adage that says that 'wine is a journey, not a destination'.  Though I'm not sure about the Gamble Family's being desirous of me to, "...enjoy this wine over several hours" - I think I'd need more than just one bottle to make this delightful tipple last that long.

Read the label.

Something a little different in work today - I labelled TWWIAGE's Premiere Napa Valley auction lot.  
Held back in February, Premiere Napa Valley is The Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) non-profit trade association's annual wine futures auction.   This year's auction saw 200 premium Napa Valley wine lots bring in $3.1 million in just 3 hours of bidding.   The proceeds from the auction are used by the NVV to promote and protect the Napa Valley AVA -  you know, they need ready cash for the usual stuff; law suits, lobbyists etc.
I think it's the sixth or seventh time I have volunteered to do this particular little job of applying labels supplied by NVV to 10 cases of shiners - bottles without labels - of a unique batch of TWWIAGE's wine.  I originally volunteered because nobody else wanted to do it, but I rather enjoy the process and don't mind doing it one bit.
Names have been removed to protect the guilty.

Hoopla!

Woman are often criticised for buying a wine, merely because they find the label attractive. Guilty as charged.
The wine wasn't very good. A 2007 Napa Sauvignon blanc, definitely past it's best, this wine was slightly flabby with a metallic aftertaste. Good label though.

Old wineries never die...

...their wines just fade away, or they are reincarnated as another winery.
When the fruit in a wine has all but disappeared sometimes all that we are left with is the information on the label. Sometimes we don't even have that. So what do we have here?
Let's start with the Beringer. This is a historical Napa Valley winery that is still in existence, albeit now owned by multi-national Beringer Blass Wine Estates. The label on this wine tells you all the pertinent stuff you would want to know about the bottles contents; varietal - Zinfandel, valley - Napa, vintage - 1974, and alcohol - 12 1/2% (a ha, a fraction. No silly decimals back in those days). Beringer were very obviously on top of things back in the 1970s.
The 1985 Merlion Chardonnay hails from the Napa Valley also. This defunct winery was located in the St. Helena AVA although the label just claims Napa Valley as the source of the wine, which I assume means that the fruit was not from the aforementioned AVA. The alcohol content is not listed so there is not even a hint as to the alcoholic punch that the summer of '85 endowed upon this particular vintage. The winery may be long gone but a signature tasting glass, designed by Merlion owner George Vierra, endures.
The Christain Brothers, (now Hess), Napa Rosé declares an alcohol content of of 12%. However, there is no vintage or mention of grape varietal. The Brothers used more label space on extolling the virtues of their "anytime wine" rather than waste it on all the regulatory nonsense required on current day wines.
Last but not least, the Carneros Creek California Red Table Wine. This property now operates as Folio Winemakers Studio (a Michael Mondavi venture), a collection of wine companies in the Los Carneros AVA. This extremely simple label does not divulge the vintage, alcohol content or even the varietal of the grapes. How can I be sure that it is even wine?
How times have changed. Compared with the draconian governmental stipulations wineries have to comply with nowadays when they put together their labels for subsequent releases, the wineries of decades past had it easy.
I don't feel inclined to taste any of these antiquated wines, to me they are more like museum pieces, unless somebody dares me of course.