wine labels

“Good Clothes Open All Doors” – Thomas Fuller 1608-1661.
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Since my sister bought me this quote as a fridge magnet many moons ago, I have used it as a justification for buying an expensive item of clothing. (Ironically, having bought a very sleek black fridge a few years ago the magnet has been retired as the new fridge is way too cool for magnets). I don’t buy many clothes (I’m in the wine business, remember, S-K-I-N-T) but it is always the ones from years ago that were beyond my means but I couldn’t pass by that are still with me today and still get commented on.
Because, at Art House Wine, we are a superficial bunch, one of our criteria for buying a wine is that it has to look as good as it tastes. We love a good-looking label and so, apparently, do the majority of wine consumers when faced with a choice of wines that they know little about; the label swings it every time.
Italy is a great wine-producing country where new wine-growing technology and techniques are being married with centuries-old tradition, experience and grape varieties so it makes sense that where Italian vineyards are producing more contemporary wines they should project a modern image; out with the medieval scrolls and family crests on labels and in with the works of living artists and graphic designers. 
After all, if a producer is investing in what is inside the bottle, why wouldn’t they invest in what is on the outside? It is the first thing the customer sees and has to make the right impression. Why would you slap a generic label on a carefully nurtured, developed, blended and original product? A truly great label gives you the necessary information about the contents but it also waxes lyrical and persuasively about the treasure that lies within and gives you something stylish to look at on the table. So go ahead and choose your wine by its label; it is the bottle’s – and the vineyard’s – ‘good clothes’ and it may open the door to a new wine!

​Our Nemorino labels are drawn by artist Mattia di Rosa, product designer for Alessi.  Bosco winery’s Donna Bosco’s labels are from paintings by 70-year-old Costa Rican artist Lilian and they are dedicated to the women of the Bosco family who supported the winery over its long history. 

​#drinkbetterwine #Italianwine