What Inflences the most: Scores or Labels?

Posted by Richard Beaudin on Dec 22, 2009 in Wine Issues | 5 comments

There’s no doubt that wine scores do sell wines. Just ask those wineries that have received praise from Robert Parker, the WineSpectator and other well known score keepers. I have seen this first hand working in retail where more and more customers walk through the door with a typed list in hand – one that reflects the latest “Top 100″ scored wines.

Of course, no one retailer will likely have all of these wines, particularly those that were in short supply to begin with.

However, I have also witnessed a similar, but seamingly illogical trend when it comes to buying wines based on their  labels. You know. Those labels that catch ones eye based on color, or design, or whimsical words. You walk done the aisles where there are countless options, bottle shapes, and possibilities, and then it catches your eye – the word “Bitch” in glowing pink! I can’t tell you how many women in particular grab this label to take to a friend.

Haven’t seen that one? How about “Vivacious Vicky“, “Menage a Trois”, “Fat Bastard”, “Smoking Loon” – the list goes on and on.  Now I am not suggesting that an outlandish label likely means the wine inside is poorly made or undrinkable, but by the same token it doesn’t speak to the quality or drinkability either.

The label and the capsule really have no function when it comes to the quality of the wine inside. The bottle obviously holds the wine and the cork protects it from oxidation. The label is there often as a legal requirement to inform the purchaser of what the wine is, when and where it was made, perhaps the style or a suggested pairing, and the capsule is there simply as decoration (although at one time it was used to hide the fact that when champagne or sparkling wine was disgorged it naturally lost some of the wine – the capsule hide that fact from the buyer:-).

So why would one buy one wine over the other based on label alone? Well … why does a buyer choose any product  over the other? Brand, reputation, price, recommendation amongst others all come into play. The label is just one more marketing ploy to get the attention of a particular buyer… some times it works, and some times it doesn’t.

I have bought certain wines that had crazy labels and some of these have turned out to be interesting wines. However, in general I am a bit leery of crazy labels as they suggest to me that the winemaker is having difficulty differentiating his/her wine based on its own merits and needs to turn to slick packaging to do the job.

So as with the scoring on wines … caveat emptor. Neither scores nor crazy labels mean you will enjoy the wine.  For this you will need to explore on your own and decide what you like.

With so many wines stuck in distributi0n looking for buyers many are at discount, so now maybe a good time to experiment.

Have a wonderful and safe Holiday!  Enjoy the wine but don’t drink and drive.