Domaine de la Chevalerie Bourgueil “Cuvee Venus” 2010

I've always been intrigued by the fact that a large number of wine consumers in this country buy wine based on the label. Apparently the motto, "Don't judge a book by its cover," is frequently disregarded when it comes to the fruit of the vine. I don't blame consumers for allowing the label to influence their buying decision, but I do feel bad for the wine drinkers who have allowed themselves to become convinced that the aesthetic appeal of the label is an accurate predictor of the quality of wine in the bottle.

Personally, I think wine is much more about what's in the bottle than what's on the label. Sure, a pleasant looking label, or a label with personal or seasonal significance can be a nice touch. I love Owen Roe's Sinister Hand, and make a point to drink it every Halloween because of the macabre tale that is associated with the label. However, no spooky tale or label could compel me to drink a wine on Halloween if the wine weren't as delicious as The Sinister Hand. 

Some would argue with me, and tell you that wine is wine, and that "a bottle of wine will get you nicely buzzed with your friends over the course of an evening no matter what you choose [emphasis in the original]." This was the point that Matthew Latkiewicz recently made in an article for Grub Street. Latkiewicz even went so far as to design a fairly humorous wine label wheel, in which he grouped wine labels into seven distinct categories. However, I think that to categorize a wine by its label is about as shallow and disingenuous as judging a book by its cover, or judging a person's character based on their appearance. Good wine can be found in bottles with traditional labels, artistic labels, designer labels, or bottles so old that the labels have faded away. At the end of the day, packaging is simply the vessel used to move the wine from the winery to our glass. I've continuously advocated for people to put aside prejudice and hesitancy when it comes to non-traditional wine packaging, because packaging is no longer an indicator of quality. The world's best wines can be found in bottles sealed with screw caps, glass Vino-Seals, Zorks, in Tetra-Paks, or even in boxes.