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Dead Celebrities
 "Dead celebrities," particularly labels starring Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, is another category marketers are exploring. Marilyn Merlot wine started out as a whim, but has evolved into one of the most collectible of wines; prices for multi-year collections approach those of fine Bordeaux and Burgundies. It is actually excellent Napa Valley wine, perhaps a shame since no one ever pulls its cork.
 The latest in the Marilyn Merlot family is the Velvet Collection bottling, featuring the most famous nude photograph of all time: Monroe’s original shot from the first Playboy. To placate the government and other would-be censors, the label sports strategic peel-off pasties, but I suspect that removing them would reduce the bottle’s value.
Sadly, most of the wine was destroyed in a devastating warehouse fire, so that what remains fetches a remarkable price.
In a similar groove is Cleavage Creek wine, with proceeds benefiting breast cancer research, and PinUp, whose wine club members compete to grace the label.
At another level, Clos Pegase features original artwork each year, and once had a serious abstract painting featuring a subject’s family jewels rejected by the government as too risqué. Happily, today’s equivalent bureau has become more enlightened, and artistic nudes can pass muster.
Among other interesting labels is Carneros del Notte, which glows in the dark, and Dynamite, named for the explosive needed to plant its original vineyard; the brand sports a different label each year. Other producers also seek to create distinctive labels, and some naturally turn to designers who produce packaging for expensive cosmetics and other luxury goods.
Some of these wines with weird labels are actually quite good, others merely curiosities. It’s said that people will buy an inexpensive wine once for a cute label, but the success of [yellow tail] and Rex Goliath proves a clever name can grace tasty wine.
As my father used to say, "There’s no law that says a beautiful woman has to be dumb," and I guess a strange label can front excellent wine just as easily.
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