Yetti & the Kokonut B’Rosé? Wildman Piggy Pop Pet Nat? Once I noticed these Australian wines in a store, I began laughing. The names had been cute, however I wasn’t able to take the wine itself significantly. My rule of thumb has lengthy been that if a wine has to make use of a humorous identify to get you to seize it, the liquid contained in the bottle most likely doesn’t have a lot to say for itself. Suppose Mad Housewife, Broke Ass, Fats Bastard, and the like.
However Ronnie Sanders of VS Imports, who brings the Yetti and Wildman wines to America, says each are so well-liked he can barely preserve them in inventory.
They’re a part of a brand new wave of wines with tongue-in-cheek names that vary from foolish to punny to in-your-face sexist. However the level isn’t to cowl up for weak spot within the wine. Edgy winemakers are utilizing the names to sign how totally different their wines are from conventional estates’ typical vino.
The pattern is booming. The shock is how scrumptious the juice contained in the bottles could be.
Till lately, names (and labels) of the great things had been virtually at all times formal, stodgy, useful.
Playful critter model logos (which appeared after Yellowtail, with its leaping wallaby, launched in 2001 and have become the bestselling wine within the U.S.) adorned low cost, generic plonk. Such labels as three Blind Moose, Smoking Loon, Elephant on a Tightrope—you get the concept—made wine appear much less snobby and extra approachable, however a lot of the wines had been forgettable.
Then, a couple of decade in the past, one thing started taking place. “The pure wine motion raised amusing names and labels to an entire new degree,” explains Sanders. “These counterculture winemakers need to talk a distinct thought about high quality wine. A brand new era of shops search them out as a result of they resonate with youthful drinkers. And social media has been a powerful affect.”
UK Grasp of Wine Tim Wildman sketches the enchantment of his Astro Bunny Pet Nat identify and its mad label on his vineyard web site: “. . .[T]he foaming sweet pink, boozy fruity bubbles made you are feeling like that unhealthy bunny in her spaceship and need to yell ‘F— Yea.’” In different phrases, it’s all in regards to the vibe.
On Instagram, vivid, cartoonish labels look much more enjoyable than a uninteresting chateau or vineyard identify, or the homeowners’ names in black on white.
The cynic in me notes that 1000’s of wines on retail cabinets should fiercely compete on your consideration. Droll names are efficient advertising and marketing. Every of the 2 buddies who make Yetti & the Kokonut additionally has his personal not-funny label, and Sanders says neither sells in addition to their collaboration.
One early California advocate of mixing wine and enjoyable is Napa’s Frog’s Leap vineyard, which has been promoting humor and significantly good wine since its founding in 1975. The identify is an inside joke—the unique property was a industrial frog farm—mixed with a takeoff on the well-known Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. The vineyard’s official motto: “Time’s enjoyable while you’re having flies.”
Immediately, many extra California wine names wink, particularly for pure wines such because the Hornswoggle Keep-in-Mattress Pink by J. Brix, billed as a mix of pink varieties that “play further deliciously collectively.”
However the winemaker who elevated zany names for nice wine to an artwork is the ever-inventive Australian, Chester Osborn of D’Arenberg, famous for his notorious assortment of loud shirts, boisterous social gathering animal persona, and 70 lush, wealthy reds and whites that vary from $15 a bottle to $100 a bottle. Such names as his the Cash Spider, the Vociferate Dipsomaniac, and the Cenosilicaphobic Cat at all times make me smile. (Cenosilicaphobic means “one who’s afraid of an empty glass.”) All of the wines are daring, savory, vibrant, smooth-textured, and scrumptious, which is why d’Arenberg picked up the Vineyard of the 12 months award eventually 12 months’s London Wine Competitors.
Australia’s goofy humour spawned an period of provocative labels akin to Ardour has Pink Lips, which bears a pulp fiction-style label. Pure winemakers are taking it one step additional with outré names like Astro Bunny. As compared, such French examples as Tout Bu or Not Tout Bu or Bordeaux’s Dangerous Boy appear virtually literary.
Clearly, wine names akin to The place’s Linus?, Mushroom Panda, and Her Majesty’s Secret Service present there’s a brand new spirit of enjoyable amongst winemakers experimenting in all places, together with a need to make severe wine with out taking themselves too significantly.
Be aware to self: Perhaps it’s time for drinkers to do the identical.
Listed below are 10 goofy bottles whose wine inside undoubtedly gained’t disappoint.
2019 Fairview’s Goats do Roam Pink ($9)
The identify of this stable, spicy-fruity on a regular basis Rhône-style mix from South Africa is a riff on “Côtes-du-Rhône.” The French objected, however the vineyard insisted it got here from its personal goat herd by chance escaping into the winery.
2018 Bonny Doon Winery Le Cigare Volant Cuvee Oumuamua ($20)
This spicy, savory Rhône mix’s identify is a witty nod to a decree handed in Châteauneuf-du-Pape forbidding UFOs (nicknamed flying cigars in France) from touchdown in vineyards. (That appears prescient now that NASA is investigating UFOs.)
2019 Domaine du Potential Tout Bu or Not Tout Bu ($28)
Vibrant and tart, this licensed natural, chillable pink with lavender and herb aromas comes from Roussillon, within the south of France. All of the vineyard’s labels are heavy on puns.
2020 Domaine Babass Groll N’Roll ($30)
French musician turned pure winemaker Sebastien “Babass” Dervieux makes this sulfur-free violet- and cherry-scented pink from previous vine grolleau grapes within the Loire Valley.
2019 Soiled & Rowdy Vineyard California Mourvedre Acquainted ($30)
There’s a worldwide geek following for this startup with a foolish identify (winemaker Hardy Wallace’s nickname is Soiled; his associate’s is Rowdy) that displays the type of wines it makes. This entry-level pink is punchy, juicy, lip-smacking.
2020 Wildman Astro Bunny Pet Nat ($36)
One in every of Wildman’s two petillant naturel wines, this final seashore mix of three white grapes and pink nero d’avola has aromas of strawberries and a watermelon-like freshness.
2018 Yetti and the Kokonut Mt. Savagnin ($40)
Made out of a grape well-liked within the Jura, this skin-contact white is just not a kind of polarising orange wines. It tastes of tropical fruit and nuts, with a zing of acidity and wealthy texture.
2017 Frog’s Leap Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ($55)
That is considered one of Napa’s under-sung basic cabernets. Made out of natural grapes, it has aromas of mint and darkish berry fruit, taste notes of cassis, and a succulent, silky texture.
2018 Sailor Seeks Horse Pinot Noir ($55)
There’s a comic story behind this identify. In accordance with the winemaker in Tasmania, the ethical of the story is to not let your self be pigeonholed in life. The wine is full of life, gentle, elegant, and perfumed. In Aussie lingo: smashable.
2017 D’Arenberg the Useless Arm Shiraz ($57)
Solely Chester Osborn would identify his earthy, deep-fruited, opulent, and concentrated icon wine after a illness. When a wooden fungus kills off elements of an previous vine, it leaves a “lifeless arm” or department, lowering the yield and intensifying the wine’s taste.
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This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content. Solely the headline has been modified.