This post will start short but is likely to grow long over time. Very long. We will try to show the enormous range of foodstuffs from which wine is produced. With each post we will add to the list, and I predict it will grow way past 50 60. Today we add Hibiscus wine to the list.

1. Agave wine
2. Apple wine
3. Apricot wine
4. Aronia berry wine
5. Avocado wine
6. Banana wine
7. Blackberry wine
8. Blueberry wine
9. Buffaloberry wine
10. Cantaloupe wine
11. Cherry wine
12. Cranberry wine
13. Dandelion wine
14. Elderberry wine
15. Elder flower wine
16. Fig wine
17. Gooseberry wine
18. Grape wine
19. Hibiscus wine. Made by Collin Oaks Winery of Princeton, Texas.
20. Jasmine fruit wine
21. Kiwi wine
22. Linden flower wine
23. Lingonberry
24. Lychee wine
25. Mango wine
26. Mangosteen wine
27. Marionberry wine
28. Onion wine
29. Peach wine
30. Pomegranate wine
31. Pear wine
32. Pepper wine
33. Persimmon wine
34. Pineapple wine
35. Rhubarb wine
36. Strawberry wine
37. Tomato wine
38. Watermelon wine

I got to talking with Dan Matauch the other day. He is a leading package designer in Michigan, at Flowdesign. I would have been impressed enough that he handled the design for Honest Tea. But he also handled Peet’s Tea, and Xango (aka Tiger Blood), and most of the designs really appeal to me. The list goes on and on, with Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine, Blue Ice Vodka, and the not-to-be-ignored Bawls and Stubb’s. I was fairly surprised to see that Dan worked on the package design for Pama Pomegranate Liqueur — and it had some kind of patent. The March 2010 press release says:

To differentiate its product, PAMA Spirits turned to the expertise of Flowdesign to develop a custom bottle that was both unique and could be patented. … Flowdesign is a unique branding firm where experience is infused in both brand graphics and structural design. Founded in 1997, Flowdesign has led the brand design field in custom structural design with 10 prestigious GPI (Glass Packaging Awards).

It surprised me because the conventional wisdom seems to be that it’s normal to get a trademark related to alcohol beverages — but it’s not realistic to get a patent. The conventional wisdom may be too simple. We have covered...

Beeradvocate shows no less than 60 wheat wine brands. The most reviewed is Smuttynose Wheat Wine Ale, as above, at 403 generally quite favorable reviews as of this writing. But Smuttynose may also be the first, and has the scars to prove it. The New Hampshire beer company has explained:

The much-anticipated debut edition of Smuttynose Wheat Wine, brewed and bottled early in 2005, was delayed for nearly a year due to problems stemming from the federal label approval process. The Tax and Trade Bureau (formerly ATF) rejected our original label approval application, claiming that use of the word wine in a beer name would confuse and mislead consumers and retailers. We didn’t agree (barleywine, anyone?) and appealed their rejection. Ours is the first, but definitely not the last, wheat wine application the federal government has seen, so they had to create new guidelines regarding the use of this name. We did prevail, at last, and the issue has been put to rest, and although there are several outstanding examples of this style offered at brewpubs, we are pleased to say that Smuttynose Wheat Wine Ale was the first commercially bottled Wheat Wine on the market.

Smuttynose Wheat Wine Ale is a unique hybridization of two well-known beer styles, combining the...

This post will start short but is likely to grow long over time. Very long. We will try to show the enormous range of foodstuffs from which wine is produced. With each post we will add to the list, and I predict it will grow way past 50 60. Today we add Elderberry wine to the list.

1. Agave wine
2. Apple wine
3. Apricot wine
4. Aronia berry wine
5. Avocado wine
6. Banana wine
7. Blackberry wine
8. Blueberry wine
9. Buffaloberry wine
10. Cantaloupe wine
11. Cherry wine
12. Cranberry wine
13. Dandelion wine
14. Elderberry wine. Made by Coltsfoot Winery of Abingdon, Virginia.
15. Elder flower wine
16. Fig wine
17. Gooseberry wine
18. Grape wine
19. Jasmine fruit wine
20. Kiwi wine
21. Linden flower wine
22. Lingonberry
23. Lychee wine
24. Mango wine
25. Mangosteen wine
26. Marionberry wine
27. Onion wine
28. Peach wine
29. Pomegranate wine
30. Pear wine
31. Pepper wine
32. Persimmon wine
33. Pineapple wine
34. Rhubarb wine
35. Strawberry wine
36. Tomato wine
37. Watermelon wine

Stolichnaya Vodka is pretty famous. And if it’s famous for anything, it’s famous for being Russian. For decades it has been glammed up as The Russian Vodka. Over the past one to two years, however, Stoli has pretty much walked away from its Russian origin. The label on the right, from 2009, proudly proclaims Stoli’s Russian heritage and origin. By contrast, the label on the left, from 2010, sidesteps this issue. The more recent back label shows that the product is made in Latvia rather than Russia. Russia and Latvia are nextdoor neighbors, and were one and the same until Latvia regained its independence in 1991. Still, this is a big change and presents a tricky marketing challenge — that would seem to be tantamount to moving Jack Daniels production from Lynchburg to Los Angeles or Guadalajara. For such a big brand (with sales estimated near $2 billion per year) there has been surprisingly little press coverage of this issue. Back in 2006, Businessweek attempted to sort out this tale of international intrigue:

So what exactly is the row about this time? When the Russian government stripped S.P.I. of its right to the Stolichnaya brand in 2002, it also banned the company from exporting Stolichnaya vodka from Russia. That’s...