So you chose the wine because of the cool label

Love! Do this next.

Apr 06, 2026

When my husband buys a wine, he lets the label guide him.

Sure, he may recognize some phrases; he knows he loves Beaujolais and he’s not a fan of big Bordeaux. But a majority of the time the label is what makes the sale. He’s part of the 80% of wine drinkers who follow the same tactic, where the look of the label is all that matters. It’s not exactly about the taste or the price. In the moment, it’s all about the vibes. It’s how this bottle makes you feel.

Producers take advantage of this, of course. Gulp Hablo is a great example; a chuggable liter of wine with a not-at-all serious label of a man holding a barbell. (Likely an homage to the bottle, which is slightly bigger than the usual 750ml, yet sells at $17 to $25 each.) It’s colorful, it’s unpretentious, it has a screw top, and it’s the perfect crowd-pleasing wine for a picnic.

These brands, with their funky fun labels, know what they are doing. Their mission is to sell wine, and they know that this judge-a-bottle-by-its-cover tactic is typically how bottles are sold. This is the audience they are going for: new wine drinkers who want to discover what they like.

So once you do find a bottle you like…what comes next?

As a sommelier, I can confidently say that I am so down with this tactic of purchasing wine. You’re buying and tasting wine! You’re discovering your palate! This is awesome!

I think it is key to take some next steps once you do this, and by next steps, I mean take notes. What did you like? What did you not? If you bought a wine because of the label and you absolutely fell in love with it, then you’re going to want to write down what type of wine that was so you can find more of it! Taking a picture of the label isn’t always helpful—sometimes you need the information on the back, too.

If this is the type of wine buying tactic you follow and you’re looking into getting more into wine, here’s what I think you should do.

Let the artistic labels guide you and taste a lot of wine.

The best way to know what you like is to taste and taste and taste some more. Buy different producers, different styles, different price points. Go crazy!

Start your own “cellar notes” notebook and write what you liked and didn’t like.

Mark down the name, the producer, where it’s from (region, country), vintage (year), alcohol percentage, and grape variety and/or appellation. Then note what you taste. What kind of fruits are you getting? Is it more minerally and light, or big and bold? Are the tannins silky or did they dry out your mouth? What is the alcohol percentage? Is it a younger vintage, or older?

If these terms are too much for you, at least noting the type of wine will be very helpful when trying to find something similar in the future.

Plus, who doesn’t love an excuse to buy a little notebook?

Share Cellar Notes

Find similar wines to the ones you love

The easiest next step is to look for wines with the same notes. If you’re noticing a trend of liking wines with less alcohol or more alcohol, then keep to that theme. If there’s a region you keep gravitating for, try other wines from that region. If it’s grape specific, then try that grape from different parts of the world. (Sauvignon Blanc is very expressive depending on where it comes from. Try comparing it to New Zealand, France, Chile, and Australia.) Maybe it’s a style of winemaking you love, like low-intervention wines (unfiltered, sometimes with sediment) or traditional wines, wines with bubbles, deep rosés versus light provençal style, or maybe skin contact wines!

Discovering what you love is all about tasting, and if buying wine because of the cool labels is what gets you there, then that’s an excellent place to start.