Ever been tempted to buy a bottle of wine just because you liked the label? C’mon. Fess up. Why else would you possibly have snatched up that Cat’s Pee on a Gooseberry Bush Sauvignon Blanc when you could have had a nice Sonoma S.B. for the same 13 bucks?
No. I’m not kidding about the Cat’s Pee. In fact, The Coopers Creek line of New Zealand wines also
includes Fat Cat Chardonnay and Tom Cat Merlot. The Web site calls the Cat's Pee "youthful and kittenish" and "extremely playful." I haven't tasted it myself. But I'm guessing that if you buy a wine called Cat's Pee you pretty much deserve what you get.
The Cat harem joins dozens, maybe scores, of other wines that are trying to get attention via the shock value, sex, silliness, kitsch or humor of their labels.
I started thinking about this phenomenon when I bought a bottle of “Screwed" -- Pink Wine McLaren Vale, Australia 2005 for $5.99 at the Grocery Outlet in Oceanside. The label elaborates on the concept "screwed," as in "My alarm didn't go off," "I missed the bus," "My computer froze," and, of course, "The dog ate my homework."
We all know the obvious contenders in this labeling madness. Marilyn Merlot, Seven Deadly Zins, Goats Do Roam, Bonny Doon’s Cardinal Zin, which was apparently banned in Ohio in 2001, and Screw Kappa Napa which claims it is made by “3 Loose Screws.”
But I had a great time learning about the more obscure entries in the field. I could have spent hours on Peter May’s Unusual Wine Labels Web site. (Hey, he’s not making fun of your "American Idol" obsession, is he?)
Not only does the site list hundreds of, ah, shall we say, lesser-known wines (with links), but also dozens of articles written about the phenomenon. Then, for those folks with even more time on their hands, there's a site specializing in pictures of funny labels, called, appropriately enough Damnfunnypictures.com. 
OK. You’re dying to know about Screwed Pink Wine, right?
Well, it's perfectly fine....maybe a weensy bit on the sweet side. Rather salmon colored than pink. Tasting notes say cranberries and cherries; I just taste "wine." But, hey, let's not be snobs. It tastes good, partners casual summer fare well, and is a good conversation piece, to boot.
I just know that you're sitting there chuckling over the funniest, or most outrageous, label you've seen. Please share. We'd all like to hear about it.
'Critter Wines' have sparked quite a lot of conversation in recent years.
There was a good NYT article a few years back called "Animal Prgamatism"
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/magazine/23wwln_consumed.html?ex=1303444800&en=d2b6e2d979edbca7&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
Posted by: Jon Erickson | May 10, 2008 at 05:46 PM
Special labels do come in handy for special occasions -- I often bring a bottle of "Mommy's Time Out" on a girls weekend.
Posted by: maura glowik | June 03, 2008 at 09:13 AM