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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Which wine cliche would YOU ban?
Perhaps you too will get a nice chuckle from this clever little column in the Napa Register entitled “A new government agency will regulate cliches on back label copy.”
If ONLY.
Author Ed Schwartz mentions my number 1 contender, the tried-and-true (cliche intended) claim that the wine is “Delicious now, but will age fabulously for many years.” I’m not saying it’s impossible. I’m saying the handful of wines those words may truthfully describe are NEVER the wines that have those words on their label.
I’d also nominate the variations on the “elegant yet full-bodied” or “subtle yet voluptuous” theme — those oxymoronic descriptions that contradict with reckless abandon. And the marketing campaigns that imply grandpa made each tiny batch down in his cellar that are too often slapped on a wine that is made in quantities that would make an oil refinery blush.
Ahh, marketing.
Which wine cliche would you ban?
Mark Fisher
P.S. And a tip of the cap to Nancy Bentley for finding this little gem …
