WTN/WineAdvisor: World's ugliest wine label?

[Robin Garr]

World's ugliest wine label?

A possible contender in a mythical "world's ugliest wine label" contest, this brownish-purple rectangle is covered with fine-print Italian text boasting about the winery and its wine, under a tiny, icon-size coat of arms. It looks more like a back label than a traditional front label, but just as you can't judge a book by its cover, you can't judge a wine by its label: The wine inside is fine.

<table border="0" align="right" width="125"><tr><td><img src="http://www.wineloverspage.com/graphics1/cort1115.jpg" border="1" align="right"></td></tr></table>Corte Sant'Alda 2005 "Ca' Fiui" Valpolicella ($19.99)

Very dark ruby with a reddish glow; characteristic Valpolicella dried cherries with minerally back notes of wet granite and a hint of gunflint. Light-bodied yet intense, dried-cherry fruit is built on a sturdy base of mouth-watering acidity, with that same "stony" mineral character persisting with dried fruits in a very long finish. Impressive Valpolicella, this one's no light quaffing red. U.S. importer: Domaine Select Wine Estates LLC, NYC. (Nov. 15, 2007)

<B>FOOD MATCH:</b> Fine with a dish crafted to match: Risotto with celery, onions and crisp-fried bits of Canadian bacon standing in for pancetta.

<B>VALUE:</B> The $20 point is getting spendy for a Valpolicella, but as noted, this is a very special Valpolicella. Worth the toll if you're a fan (as I am) of minerals and <i>terroir</i> in a subtle, balanced wine.

<B>WHEN TO DRINK:</B> Not an ager. Best drunk up over the next year or two.

<B>PRONUNCIATION:</B>
"<b>Valpolicella</b>" = "<i>Vahl-po-lee-CHELL-ah</i>"

<B>FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:</B>
Unfortunately, this small-production, artisanal wine isn't widely available. I found it at Chambers Street Wines in New York City, where a few cases remain in stock at this link:
http://www.chambersstwines.com/Search.asp?search=go&kw=fiui

Check prices and find vendors for Corte Sant'Alda Valpolicella on Wine-Searcher.com:
[url=http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/Alda%2bFiui/-/-/USD/A?referring_site=WLP]http://www.wine-searcher.com/
find/Alda%2bFiui/-/-/USD/A?referring_site=WLP[/url]

<center>Subscribe to The 30 Second Wine Advisor</center>

tHE UGLIEST WINE LABEL EVER is Marques de Gelida Cava. If you've seen it, you know. I'll try to find it and post.

[Robin Garr]

tHE UGLIEST WINE LABEL EVER is Marques de Gelida Cava. If you've seen it, you know. I'll try to find it and post.

If it's uglier than Ca' Fiui, it must be butt-ugly indeed!

Wait, though, I think I've had it. White painted bottle, looks sort of ceramic?

I just love the name Ca' Fiui: it sounds like the sound I make when spitting really bad wine.

Mark Lipton

p.s. I'd have to think long and hard about what would qualify as an "ugly" label. For sheer, butt-ugly bottles, you've got Père Anselme's faux-old "La Fiole" CdP and the equally cheesy faux-dusty Faustino I Rioja.

How about the private label "Grape Guts'....



No, I guess that is funny, not ugly.

And this: <img src="http://ingeb.org/images/winelabl.GIF" height="500" width="375">

tHE UGLIEST WINE LABEL EVER is Marques de Gelida Cava. If you've seen it, you know. I'll try to find it and post.

If it's uglier than Ca' Fiui, it must be butt-ugly indeed!

Wait, though, I think I've had it. White painted bottle, looks sort of ceramic?

Is this the one?


[/img]

My nomination, if not for the overall ugliest, but certainly for the ugliest Critter Label.

My nomination, if not for the overall ugliest, but certainly for the ugliest Critter Label.

Bob, that dog looks rabid to me!

tHE UGLIEST WINE LABEL EVER is Marques de Gelida Cava. If you've seen it, you know. I'll try to find it and post.

If it's uglier than Ca' Fiui, it must be butt-ugly indeed!

Wait, though, I think I've had it. White painted bottle, looks sort of ceramic?

Is this the one?


[/img]

Yes. Yikes!