There is a trend for celebrities, alive and dead, to have their own wine labels. These wines are fun and make a great gift to bring for a party. This is important as we enter fall and the party season. I know that we are often scratching our heads as to a fun and appropriate gift to bring to a party. There is the added pressure given that we right about wine and booze.
We have recently been exploring the rock-n-roll labels. Honestly, it’s been pretty fun. We didn’t have high expectations about the wines given that the focus was on the bottle. But, we weren’t disappointed. The quality varied but none of them were bad or undrinkable. In fact, most of them were pretty good.
Our favorite wines came from the folks at Wines That Rock. Wines That Rock not only had fun labels but were delicious and affordable. In fact, I took the Woodstock Chardonnay to a white wine tasting party and it was the unexpected hit of the evening, beating out a number of wines that were priced considerably higher. I think the quality and affordability stem from the fact that the wines are made from quality grapes from Mendocino County in California, an up and coming wine region north on Sonoma that is also known for it’s wine value. The current line-up sports record covers as the label and consists of Greatful Dead Wine (a red blend), Rolling Stones 40 Licks Merlot, Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon Cabernet Sauvignon, Woodstock Chardonnay and Policy Synchronicity (a red blend).
Hard core AC/DC fans will enjoy the AC/DC wines. First available in Australia, they launched with great fanfare in late 2012 in the United States. AC/DC partnered up with Vinport to offer a line-up of wines from their home country of Australia, as well as one straggler from New Zealand. The wines are named after famous AC/DC songs and they rock! The line-up consists of Thunderstruck Chardonnay, Hells Bells Sauvignon Blanc (from New Zealand), Back in Black Shiraz and Highway to Hell Cabernet Sauvignon. These wines like the Wines That Rock are affordable (all under $20) and have awesome labels. These are a must have for any AC/DC lover!
Other bands with music themed wine include Whitesnake, Mick Fleetwood, Motorhead (available only in certain countries in Europe and Australia) and Train. Train, like AC/DC, has an offering of wines based on their song titles. Of these, I have only tried a few of Mick Fleetwood’s wines and found them pretty good. There are other musicians, like Boz Scaggs and Olivia Newton John, that have opened wineries but the wine has nothing to do with their music. No cool music wine labels or naming the wines after a famous song or album.
