W(h)ining...

It so happens that the buddies from Grad School I'm staying with are into wine, so we've spent some time shopping and tasting quite a variety of wines. Me: not really a wine snob. I mean, I like wine, but wine doesn't stand on its own for me; I've always seen it as a culinary item meant to be paired with the right foods (or vice versa, I guess). What does fascinate me, is the marketing of wine. The critics once said that any label bearing an animal on it was a good wine. It wasn't long before there were a bajillion labels featuring an animal. (A bajillion is a bit of an exaggeration; I believe the actual count was closer to a gazillion).
Another study noted how increasing the price of a wine increases the perceived enjoyment of the wine by the drinker. In other words, give the average wine drinker two glasses of the same wine and tell them that the second glass is a more expensive brand and they will enjoy it more. This is why, for the most part, I stick to Merlot. Besides its taste qualities, you can find a $30 bottle that tastes like crap, and an $8 bottle that is amazing. Perhaps I only enjoy Merlot because this price/enjoyment theory is wrecked by this style of wine. Perhaps my enjoyment is linked to how much I perceive my wine's are "sticking it to the man."
Anyways, here is my current vote for the coolest local wine label.