Sorry about the neck; hope it resolves itself soon.

As to the wine -- as a marketer and a feminist, some quick thoughts:

There's nothing wrong with marketing to women as women if they, as a market segment, use a product or service in ways that are different from other market segments. For example, if I were the owner of a health club, and I noticed that 95% of the members who checked a kid into the on-site babysitting service were women, I'd be perfectly justified in targeting local moms with a campaign promoting that feature as part of why they should join the health club.

Where it gets dicier is when women as women show no recognizably different consumption patterns from men, yet marketers try to treat them differently. A certain major US airline recently tried to create a special homepage for female travelers, for example, and loaded it down with book recommendations and tips for effective packing. There was no real awareness that the female business traveler is going to have very different needs and interests than the female leisure traveler. That's when it starts to get sexist.

I agree with you. But found the overall tone of their press release to be rather condescending and sexist.A few quotes:

“Every woman can relate to the little black dress – it’s an enduring, classic icon,” said Laura Webb, Brand Director New Products. “To this end, we’ve taken this icon and created a wine that is familiar and un-intimidating. In an industry that is often seen as confusing and complicated, we hope this wine will stand out as an easy, obvious, and essential choice for women of all ages.”

... Little Black Dress Wines embrace this diversity in style, capturing only a hanger and pair of high-heeled shoes on the label, leaving the image of the dress up to the imagination of the person drinking the wine.

“By showing only a hanger and a pair of high-heeled shoes, we’re inviting women to interact with the brand by recalling their own version of the little black dress and all the positive emotions and special memories that go along with it,” said Webb. “We want this wine to feel as personal to her as her own little black dress.”

My interpretation of what they're saying? "We think women can't understand wine unless we relate it to some fashion item."

I found the label (actually print directly on the bottle) sort of interesting, until I read that. But maybe I'm missing something.

http://www.lbdwines.com/pdf/release.pdf

-btc

I got one of those Bed, Bath and Beyond 20%-off cards the other day.

Since you know a thing or two about wines, perhaps you can make a recommendation... Almost every wine I've ever tried has tasted extremely bitter to me. Maybe I lack the proper appreciation for normal red and white wines. I did try a rather sweet (literally sweet, not sweet as in "sweet deal") plum wine that I liked. Are there any other wines I can look for that are sweeter than average?

*reads PDF*

*sighs*

That's seriously lame.

So my first reaction is that this winemaker has gone the way of chick lit in their marketing....slap some Shopaholic-esque graphics on the label in a sad attempt to project an image onto one's customers.

"You're smart, you're sassy, you like great packaging! Show your friends how modern and label-conscious you are--drink our wine!"

Unfortunately, it probably works. I recently read an article that said a significant portion of women choose their wines by the label. To hell with terroir!

So am I to understand that you have some Opus One, Caymus, etc. in need of enjoying? Tough dilemma, that.

Aspeth,

Your disappearance was noted, but hardly a surprise anymore. Glad you are sitting down and trying to enjoy things a bit.

Yes, I do have some of those older vintages to try to enjoy. Got to find some people to do it with though. I'm quite happy to open a mediocre bottle and leave half of it overnight to finish the next day, but I hate to do that with a good bottle, especially an older one that might be a bit "fragile" to begin with, and would probably break down after 24 hours.

-btc

Segfault,

The problem with most reds is that they are consumed way too young. This is an unfortunate fact that results from most wineries marketing decsions. They've basically decided to produce wines that are "OK" for drinking right now, with the knowledge that those who care will hang on to them a couple of years before drinking and most other people won't know the difference. Sometimes you can find some slightly older ones in "bargain bins" and other places where older merchandise is cleared out. Often these are BETTER than the new vintages on the shelf! In my area I've got a couple of good wine stores that scour the world for offbeat labels and vintages, some of which come from places where the marketing department is not in charge. I'll try to highlight some of them here.

In whites, look for wines that don't say anything about "oak". You'd probably like a Chablis-style chardonnay, which is usually produced with no oak barrels at all, or at most just a few weeks in oak. While the oak barrels can add a lot of interesting flavors to the wine, most of the American chardonnays are, in my opinion, severely over-oaked and this can give a kind of woody, occasionally bitter flavor.

Many of the wines Aspeth mentioned in her comment would probably be OK. Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio are usually done without much wood. They are usually packaged in clear bottles and you can see the pale color.

Another alternative would be Riesling. Some good ones come out of California, though in my experience the best in the US come out of Oregon and Washington. Sweeter grape which can nonetheless be quite interesting. I'll be commenting on a few of those soon.

And finally, Chenin Blanc is a pretty common grape, mostly used in blending but occasionally available on it's own. Most production is fairly innocuous and not all that great, but decent ones like the Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc/Vigonier I commented on above can be different and probably more up your alley.

-btc

Nice list! I'll have to print it out the next time I go to the liquor store (generic liquor wholesaler, unfortunately I don't have a wine specialty shop nearby). And, thanks for the tip about aging them a couple of years.