Guilty Pleasure

It's not what you think. I've never developed a taste for wine so I rarely drink it and when I do it's probably going to be an ice wine or something so sweet it qualifies more for a syrup than a wine.

My guilty pleasure is wine labels. I'm fascinated by them and think they're one of the more creative art forms around. If I could, I'd collect them but that would mean I'd have to buy and drink the wine which would be a waste of good wine and hard on me. Haunting recycle bins would just be embarrassing so I've ruled that out.

A few years ago I discovered "Label Lift" made by a company called Oenophilia. With these little sheets of sticky stuff, you can peel the artwork off a label leaving behind the gluey part. It works beautifully and I've framed a couple wine labels over the years that have sentimental value for one reason or another. I've seen wonderful framed collections of them which make stunning art pieces.

Tonight at the market I whipped out my little camera and was happily aiming at wine bottles in pursuit of a blip when the wine steward (or whatever they're called in markets) caught me. He ended up showing me some of his favorite labels and telling me a couple of stories about vinyards in Spain. It was a delightful encounter and one I chalk up to blipping because it wouldn't have happened otherwise.