Judge a Wine By Its Label: A (Less Than Serious) Guide Grub Street

It happens to me all the time: I walk into a wine store and am totally thrown off by the labels. Not what they say, exactly, but their design. Is that French Cabernet trying too hard with its italicized fancy cursive print? Could a really good wine be hiding behind that hideous illustration of three blind moose? Grub Street took these questions to the next level with their wine label guide.

Matthew Latkiewicz put together this somewhat genius take on judging a wine solely by its label. Or rather, judging what a label will most likely mean for the wine in its bottle. I have to admit I agree with his take:

I make the assumption that the crew who makes the wine also chooses the label, at least at some level, right? So, when a label appeals to me, I think: "Well, I like their font choices. I probably like their wine choices, too."

It's not fool-proof in the least, but when dropping by a wine shop without a given bottle in mind, how can you help but be a little influenced by the labels? Clearly a lot of time and money goes into creating these things, so why not give them some credit?

Do you judge wine by the label?

• Read more: Sloshed: Maybe We Should Be Judging Wines by Their Labels at Grub Street

(Image: Jen Cotton/Grub Street)

Comments (8)

Yes, and I also judge books by their covers.

I admit, I look for an interesting label or name when buying wine, and I have found some very good wines this way.

I am one of the "if it has an animal on it, I'll get it" wine buyer group.

As a wine geek that has no problems drinking 5 dollar bottles, I look for primarily two things - the first is what kind I want, even in the most general sense. Obviously red or white is the first question, followed for me by whether I want something light, medium, or full-bodied. It depends on what I'm eating and how I feel. Next I figure out whether I want fruity New World or earthy Old World. Knowing this is so important. It helps you save time and money and angst. If you get the cheap bottle you know you're in the mood for versus what might be an objectively better bottle that's pricier you'll be happier merely by drinking the wine you want versus the wine that's better.

The second thing is price. I never buy wine outside my budget. It's not worth it. I always try to look for what's on sale, what's underpriced compared to how good it tends to be, and also whether this is party wine, special occasion wine, or every day wine. I'm happy with supercheap discount bottles for every day wine. I've had 12 dollar bottles be "special occasion" wine and I've had 40 dollar bottles be that too. Depends on where I am financially at the time and how much I want to spend on what is basically a nice drink with my meal. There are usually other things more important than the increase in quality that price increase will get you.

Everything else, from the label to the copy to the esoteric winemaking concepts behind the bottles is secondary to what kind of wine I want and what kind of money I want to spend on it.

" this somewhat genius take "

I beg to differ, strenuously.

my sister swears by the "if it has an animal on the label" school of wine buying.

my mom always says, "the more distracting the label, the ickier the wine."

she's yet to be wrong.

I most definitely buy based on the label. We once went to this amazing wine class (shout out to the Philadelphia Wine School) and the instructor made a good point: If the label is super fancy, that most likely means they spent more money on advertising than they did on the wine. The best bottles might be the ones with just the name on it and year. So the "critter wine" companies are spending money on making a cute logo so you buy it for Bambi, not the taste.