The International Review of Wine Packaging and Aesthetics, Vol. 10

El Felino
Malbec, Mendoza, Product of Argentina
About $15 (Jersey City)

[Note: Here I finally finish clearing the Jersey City inventory of wine-label-related entries.]

[Note: This is the tenth installment in a regular Murketing feature. For previous installments and an explanation, go here.]

Earlier this year, R. wrote a “Consumed” column about “critter wines” — meaning wine labels that featured a representation of an animal. (Or “critter.”) Yellowtail was the high-profile example in that piece, but of course there are many, many critters on the wine aisles these days.

And in this case, we picked this up because we liked the cat illustration. It’s a bit more arresting than a lot of the critters you see. A little more stylish. Yet still somehow cute. And of course it’s all about cuteness. But you knew that.
Also, we like the sort of echo of the design onto the top of the bottle, as well as the really cool cork. A lot more attention seems to go into corks these days, both in terms of materials and graphics. Generally these weird plastic-y corks are a little off-putting, and while you might think that a black cork is too much of a gimmick for us, well, you’d be wrong. E also points to the white space on the label as a general plus.

But otherwise, she feels, it is “not special. It’s all about the illustration.” R. agrees with this. But it’s interesting how far a really cool critter illustration can go.

REGARDING THE ACTUAL WINE: Fine.