Hitting the Bottle With Style: Wine Labels Dress Up

Sept. 11, 2007— -- Next time you are in a liquor store looking for a nice bottle of chardonnay, or maybe a merlot, think about what drives your selection.

Is it price? Is it name recognition? Or, is it the pretty picture on the label?

More and more winemakers are counting that it is the label.

Wines in recent years have taken on new and creative names and funky labels as a way to distinguish themselves in a crowded marketplace.

"That's the whole idea," said Katy Leese, a spokeswoman and partner in Red Truck, a California wine producer.

Red Truck, which started in 2002, took a very simple approach to marketing: a painting of a big red truck on their bottles.

The winery founders bought a painting of a 1947 Dodge truck, set against a typical Sonoma landscape, at an auction, and thought it would make the perfect wine label.

"It was to have something that was a little bit more kind of fun," Leese said. "The whole brand is about fun. One of our mottos is that we take making great wine seriously, but we don't take ourselves too seriously."

Like many other wines that use bold labels, Red Truck hopes to draw in new customers with its design, and then win them over as repeat buyers with their taste. Also, with a name like Red Truck, customers are more likely to remember the winery next time they hit a liquor store.

The strategy worked, and Red Truck now also has White Truck and Pink Truck wines.

CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTOS OF ABC'S PICKS OF FUN WINE LABELS THAT MAKE A BIG SPLASH

Don't like trucks? Well, then, consider a bottle of cabernet sauvignon with Marilyn Monroe on the label.

Marilyn Wines, part of Nova Wines, Inc. of St. Helena, Calif., holds an exclusive agreement with the estate of Marilyn Monroe for the use of the name and the images. The vineyard started production in 1987 of Marilyn Merlot, and has since expanded its line to include other Marilyn-themed wines. For instance, there is Norma Jeane A Young Merlot.

"We do try to make sure that at typical browsing range — the range between the browser and the wine on the shelf — that our label is very noticeable. So, Marilyn is prominent, and we always hope, is eye-catching," said Bob Holder, president of Nova Wines.