Wacky Wine Packaging

[n4sir]

With all the talk generated by Penfolds outrageous new baby above, it got me thinking about one of my guilty pleasures - the enjoyment of the wacky, the tacky and the occasionally downright vulgar packaging used to try and flog wine.

Below are a few examples - please feel free to add anything you think may qualify.














Cheers,
Ian

[newworld]

Nice collection!

[sjw_11]

Those are great Ian - are they googled or from your personal collection?

[phillisc]

Ian, penthouse port puts a new spin on RENEPOGEL, if you get what i mean.

Cheers Craig

[Seven]

Those are great Ian - are they googled or from your personal collection?

Not sure about the rest but the Penfolds 60a must be from his own collection

[Dan]

http://www.naturalselectiontheory.com/egg/

[n4sir]

Those are great Ian - are they googled or from your personal collection?

Not sure about the rest but the Penfolds 60a must be from his own collection

Sadly I don't have the Penfolds Block 42 ampoule (or the Bin 60A for that matter), but rather embarassingly I do have the others.

Photos are off the web. While I do have the three Penthouse Pet ports, I am unfortunately missing the original box.

Cheers,
Ian

[n4sir]

Ian, penthouse port puts a new spin on RENEPOGEL, if you get what i mean.

Cheers Craig

Ahhh, my favourite sketch from the old TV series Fast Forward, "the ultimate social lubricant":




More wine porn below, if you are easily offended please discontinue reading on from here...


I managed to recently get hold of a boxed set of the Penthouse Ports, as an unexpected bonus it happened to be signed by Miss June! I am interested to find out a bit more about the history of these things, they look to have been produced in South Australia but there's nothing official about the actual maker on the box or bottles - I vaguely remember a set advertised on eBay that said it was made by Basedows, but I would be grateful if anyone can confirm this or add any other information.









Finally, another tacky bottle I bought at auction - what caught my interest was that it was listed with a warning that the label was sexually explicit. Who could resist that? Well, I could have if I knew what it was in advance - again, you have been warned so if you are easily offended please look away now.....































Last warning, I'm not kidding...





























...okay, you asked for it:

[GraemeG]

While I do have the three Penthouse Pet ports, I am unfortunately missing the original box.

Ha! And the gags never stop!
GG

[Scotty vino]

Blast from the past.
With the World Cup in full swing I thought this was fitting.

[Waiters Friend]

Not actually a wine label, but part of 'The Twelfth Man' cricket CDs. A pisstake of Ritchie Benaud's ownership of a French vineyard.

[n4sir]

Of course, a wacky wine packaging thread would not be complete without these retro labels from Kellermeister, the utterly amazing Pink Mink & Sable:

[n4sir]

Perfect for the wacky nature of this thread, and while watching Pulp Fiction late at night...

... BRING OUT THE GIMP!

[n4sir]

BRL Hardy did these Botrytis Semillon bottles for a few wineries, Berri, Tintara & Houghton: for some reason I always think of the Christina Aguilera song Genie in a Bottle which appeared around the same time, maybe it was the original inspiration

[n4sir]

I managed to recently get hold of a boxed set of the Penthouse Ports, as an unexpected bonus it happened to be signed by Miss June! I am interested to find out a bit more about the history of these things, they look to have been produced in South Australia but there's nothing official about the actual maker on the box or bottles - I vaguely remember a set advertised on eBay that said it was made by Basedows, but I would be grateful if anyone can confirm this or add any other information.

I may have some new information about who made these - a friend told me that Hoffman's were doing many similar promotional ports, and a possible clue is the F/66 down the bottom right corner of the label which could be a reference to the batch of wine that was bottled. I got home and compared it to a Hoffman's Hart Beat NV vintage port - the bottle styles are very similar (the tops are slightly different, probably because of the extra length of cork of a VP compared to a stubby Tawny cork), and the VP has a reference F/317 in the bottom right corner.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Finally, another tacky bottle I bought at auction - what caught my interest was that it was listed with a warning that the label was sexually explicit. Who could resist that? Well, I could have if I knew what it was in advance - again, you have been warned so if you are easily offended please look away now.....


Last warning, I'm not kidding...


...okay, you asked for it:

Ahh, the Adelaide Hash House Harriers (HHH), the "Drinking Club with a Running Problem", no wonder. I ran with them a couple of times when I was in Adelaide back in 2001.

Cheers...............Mahmoud.

[Scotty vino]

my dad picks the fruit that goes to....

[Scotty vino]

Dug these out of a mates cellar. Full set of Adelaide GP peter liebich ports.
some great 80's/90's packaging.

[n4sir]

Dug these out of a mates cellar. Full set of Adelaide GP peter liebich ports.
some great 80's/90's packaging.

The first few GP Ports from 1985-1988 were by Peter Liebich, for the rest of the series when it was in Adelaide up to 1995 they were from Chateau Yaldara. After the move to Melbourne in 1996 it was from All Saints...

I always like the packaging of these, very flashy, maybe not quite wacky, tacky or outrageous...

...then again, what the girls selling them at the GP were made to wear could possibly qualify.

[Scotty vino]

Dug these out of a mates cellar. Full set of Adelaide GP peter liebich ports.
some great 80's/90's packaging.

The first few GP Ports from 1985-1988 were by Peter Liebich, for the rest of the series when it was in Adelaide up to 1995 they were from Chateau Yaldara. After the move to Melbourne in 1996 it was from All Saints...

I always like the packaging of these, very flashy, maybe not quite wacky, tacky or outrageous...

...then again, what the girls selling them at the GP were made to wear could possibly qualify.

Probably not exactly wacky but I figured different enough to fit into this category.
My Dad bought me a GP Port bottle every year until the set was complete.
I have all the years but I've seen a 'corporate' bottle in an antique store
which i believe is part of the set but impossible to get singularly.

I think the same Peter Liebich did the Clipsal 500 race ports as well as I did some graphic work for him.
A very energetic and eccentric fellow!

[n4sir]

Probably not exactly wacky but I figured different enough to fit into this category.
My Dad bought me a GP Port bottle every year until the set was complete.
I have all the years but I've seen a 'corporate' bottle in an antique store
which i believe is part of the set but impossible to get singularly.

You mean these which sold for about 10x the price on release? They still occasionally come up at wine auctions, just keep an eye out for something labelled as 15 year old GP ports and expect to bid a bit more for them, around $25 or so instead of the usual $10.



I guess the really wacky side of these ports was the uniform the Grand Prix promo girls selling them wore - it's a good excuse to find a couple more photos.

[Scotty vino]

Probably not exactly wacky but I figured different enough to fit into this category.
My Dad bought me a GP Port bottle every year until the set was complete.
I have all the years but I've seen a 'corporate' bottle in an antique store
which i believe is part of the set but impossible to get singularly.

You mean these which sold for about 10x the price on release? They still occasionally come up at wine auctions, just keep an eye out for something labelled as 15 year old GP ports and expect to bid a bit more for them, around $25 or so instead of the usual $10.



I guess the really wacky side of these ports was the uniform the Grand Prix promo girls selling them wore - it's a good excuse to find a couple more photos.

The 1995 grand finale was the bottle I was thinking of. Good find!
I'll keep an eye out for one.
Loving these old promo pics. Love the earlier pic....Cigarette in hand, Packet of Peter Jacksons on the merch table.

[ReclineWithWine]

No wacky packaging really needed to sell these Sine Qua Non wines as they are some of the most sought after in the world - the specific releases shown gained 400+% in value almost overnight. Manfred and team just package their "products" beautifully for the love of it and to do their beautiful wines justice. They create new label artwork and names for all their wines each year! A treasure in my cellar. Glad to be on the list ...albeit my credit card disagreeing.

SQN2_LLR.jpg

SQN3_LLR.jpg

SQN1_LLR.jpg

[Scotty vino]

No wacky packaging really needed to sell these Sine Qua Non wines as they are some of the most sought after in the world - the specific releases shown gained 400+% in value almost overnight. Manfred and team just package their "products" beautifully for the love of it and to do their beautiful wines justice. They create new label artwork and names for all their wines each year! A treasure in my cellar. Glad to be on the list ...albeit my credit card disagreeing.

off the charts!.seems a shame to open them.

[ReclineWithWine]

Not sure why my 3 images aren't showing in the post when not logged in? Can anyone give advice to a "first time image uploader"? Thanks.

[n4sir]

Treasury's latest baby - something about it reminds me of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", or perhaps more disturbingly "The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting"

[n4sir]

Definitely in the tacky category:

[sjw_11]

Treasury's latest baby - something about it reminds me of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", or perhaps more disturbingly "The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting"

Is that actually Shiraz "with a dash of fortified wine"??

[Scotty vino]

an old pennies mirror came my way so i whacked it up in the cellar.
Mid/early 70's apparently.

[n4sir]

Ian, penthouse port puts a new spin on RENEPOGEL, if you get what i mean.

Cheers Craig