KEY POINTS:
Some of my favourite wines wear the most unalluring labels. That pretty riesling enshrouded in severe gothic script over a dire vineyard etching. That beautiful burgundy sporting a sallow label complete with cliched crest.
Wines of great repute probably don't need to pay much attention to their appearance because enough connoisseurs know of the heavenly liquids that lie beneath their often wretched garb.
But for many drinkers faced with a dizzying array of wine for everyday drinking, a wine's label can be important when it comes to selecting one bottle over another.
"If someone goes to a shop and there's two sauvignons blancs at the same price, neither which they know anything about, they'll go for the one whose label they like," says Helen Milner of Tardis, the group behind some of New Zealand's most seductive contemporary wine labels.
Few people admit to being swayed by a nice label. But studies of buying behaviour show that after wine shoppers have narrowed down their choice through colour, price, country, and grape variety, packaging starts to exert its influence.
"While a few consumers will buy a bottle just because it looks interesting or beautiful, most try to make choices up to the point where their stock of rational rules of thumb runs out, and will then allow packaging to influence the final decision," says Richard Halstead, whose research company Wine Intelligence has studied the subject.
"This suggests that packaging is most valuable to wine producers in areas of the market where there are lots of substitutes - such as standard sauvignon blanc - or where a lot of gift purchases are made."
It's even been shown that good packaging can make drinkers believe the wine tastes better. But despite this, many of our local labels cut a drab figure, at odds with the youthfulness and vibrancy of their product.
Milner thinks New Zealand wine labels could use a bit more originality.
"New Zealand is a new world wine producer. We shouldn't be trying to be French, but rather be ourselves."
Getting a label spot-on is no easy task. A wacky label that leaps off a supermarket shelf might work for wine under $15, but would alienate those after a more upmarket wine, where associations between wine, tradition and heritage remain strong.
Another area in which some wines need a dressing-down is their back label. It's the perfect place for the winemaker to get the potential buyer's mouth watering, but too often, it instead blinds prospective purchasers with wine science.
What most people are looking for is an accurate idea of what the product tastes like but even obvious elements, like the level of sweetness that's all-important to varieties like riesling and pinot gris, are often omitted.
Good packaging may only sell a bad wine once, but a good wine with bad packaging might not sell at all.
That's unless it's one of those lucky wines with a reputation that precedes it ... like my rough-looking riesling and badly dressed burgundy.
WINES WITH STYLE
While I'm not one to judge a wine by its label and, in fact, much of my tasting is done blind, this selection has been made of wines I've rated highly and just happen to look as good as they taste.
Cable Bay Five Hills Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec Waiheke Island 2005
$33-$36
With their subtle unfurling ferns, Cable Bay's Tardis-designed labels combine contemporary style with New Zealand identity. Beneath this lies an elegant and juicy blend with rich blackcurrant fruit, savoury notes and gentle herbs.
From Glengarry.
Ata Rangi Crimson Pinot Noir 2006
$29.95
A beautiful wine with a beautiful Pohutakawa-clad label. With its bright raspberry and strawberry fruit, spice and Ata Rangi's trademark silky texture, it has kilometres more depth than most young-vine pinots.
Stockists include Glengarry, Bacchus Cellars, Caro's.
Kim Crawford Spitfire Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2006
$30
Kim Crawford is one New Zealand company that has come up with classy and instantly recognisable labels while avoiding appearing gimmicky. From its Special Parcel series, this turbo-charged sauvignon is an explosion of pungent herbs, nettles and gooseberries over ripe tropical fruit and juicy lemons and limes.
From Glengarry.
