Talk-A-Vino

An oenophile walks into a wine store…

I guess you are expecting a joke to follow, right, something along the lines of “A cowboy walks into a bar…”

No, that’s not the intention here.

The oenophile (yours truly) did walk into a wine store today (I stopped by my friend Zak’s Cost Less Wines store in Stamford), and saw a bunch of novelties worth sharing.

I rarely visit wine stores, so the novelty factor might be simply due to not being kept abreast of the latest and greatest in the wine world, but hey, I still want to share my observations with you.

Now, some pictures will follow.

First, I saw this beautiful display of Halloween-related wines and spirits, which is always fun (some might even taste decent).

Next, I saw Halloween spirits at, shall we say, the next level?

I definitely applaud the artistic nature of these bottles, but even then, $1,900 for a bottle, even with the Día de Muertos designation? Maybe it is all for the special effects…

Now, moving from Halloween to the wine-selling ingenuity…

Forget wine in the can. Welcome, wine in the Tetra Pak. Apparently, Barefoot was one of the very first to introduce wine in the Tetra Pak. It is 200 ml, and for the next month, it is on sale for 99 cents per packet. 99 cents for a glass and a half of wine (200 ml)? I guess it is not a bad deal. One important advantage of this packaging: unlike wine in cans, you can actually close this package, so you don’t have to gulp it all at once.

Barefoot was one of the first, but others followed:

And now, just a couple of label observations.

First, beautiful new packaging for the Ken Wright Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Oregon – at least this was the first time I saw these labels.

To finish off, a very intriguing label – Master & Servant Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley, produced by 689 Cellars:

Can you tell me who is the master and who is the servant here? What is this label trying to say? Asking for a friend… If you have an idea, please leave a comment.

What have you found at the intersection of wine, art, and sales lately? Do tell!