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View Winners → Archive Nov 19, 2013
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Oh, two-buck Chuck. As much as I love you, there may come a time when I need to purchase and have on hand a wine that exudes a decidedly more refined taste, one that conveys my superiority above my mere h2o-and-whatever’s-cheapest-guzzling peers.
But what’s a gal to do when the only indication of a better wine indoctrinated in her mind is that the better wine is found by reaching for the one with a higher price tag? Whether true or not, the plethora of options is overwhelming and it was only at Second Glass‘s Wine-extravaganza, Wine Riot, that my colleagues and I learned the true depth of wine and the many ways it can please the discriminating palate.
Indeed, we learned that wine comes in many flavors, leaving Wine Riot with the words dry, sweet, oaked and unoaked amongst others worked into our epicurean vocabularies. We also left with a newfound appreciation for some cool brands pushing the envelope against the grain with novel ways of describing and branding wines.
Brands like “Uproot” shown above rebel against conventional labels by simply marking the notes of the wine with colors. For example, that blurry shade of gray in the bottle to the right denoted a “petrol” flavor which we were told polarized people. We were in the camp of those who loved it.
We also really enjoyed the quirky packaging for this California Square brand, whose squared bottling leads to more efficient use of space and provides for a nice eye-catching design reminiscent of olive oil or balsamic vinegar bottles. More than just aesthetically pleasing, however, the wine we tried (a cab) was also quite tasty: bold, but well-rounded.
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