Just bought a critter label wine. Does this make me a bad person???

Okay, so I am wandering the aisles of my local LCBO, looking for something "different" and I ended up buying, wait for it, a bottle of "Chat-En-Ouef", which carries a label depicting, you guessed it, a cat sitting on top of a large egg. The bottle actually does look cool.

The back label claims the wine is made with old vine Grenache and Syrah. It comes from the Cotes du Ventoux and is produced by Etablissements Paul Boutinot. I seem to recall reading an article recently about this guy being the master of crafty marketing ploys.

Will try it tonight and report on my findings.

[Robin Garr]

I probably would have taken a whirl on that one, too, Bruce, as long as you didn't spring for Little Penguin.

Remember, if you shun all wines with animal labels, you're ruling out La Spinetta's Barbarescos with the rhino label, not to mention Cheval Blanc ...

" Just bought a critter label wine. Does this make me a bad person??? "

I think the simple answer is yes.

And Robin, last time I checked my Cheval labels didnt have horses. Does this make them Rodenstock bottles?

I should add I have nothing against bad people

" Just bought a critter label wine. Does this make me a bad person??? "

I think the simple answer is yes.

[James Roscoe]

Bruce, you were "bad" way before you bought this wine. What the heck, eh?

Perhaps not exactly morally bankrupt... but certainly suspect.

Just a reminder to the NiagaraCOOL attendees that the Salmon Run wines tasted at Dr. Frank have a fish on the label. Does that count as a critter?

Chat-en-Oeuf isn't a bad little drop at all for the price.

I guess marketing people or those functioning in marketing positions are human and hence prone to stupidity. Everyone thinks they're coming up with the best idea since sliced bread never realizing that it's all been said and done before ... it just gets recycled to an inexperienced clientele who thinks it's all so fresh and new. When I see all those individualists with their backwards baseball caps and baggy pants hanging halfway down their butts, my faith in humanity is restored. They are a function of their times ... as are most of us.

I guess the only way to know whether a critter wine or any wine is any good is to taste it. Some are going to be just the mass-marketed mouthwash you would expect from a me-too product hanging onto advertising coattails. Others may be fine. And ain't that what we do for a hobby (and some for a living)? Taste wine? I know I'm always glad to hear someone else's opinion ... especially if it means I don't have to sneak my wine out of the local megamart to avoid the embarrassment of being caught with a porcupine on my pinot!

Remember, if you shun all wines with animal labels, you're ruling out La Spinetta's Barbarescos with the rhino label, not to mention Cheval Blanc ...

And Mouton-Rothschild. The famous 1982 even had an animal illustration on the label.

-Paul W.