Re-labeling a bottle; Good or Bad Thing?

[Moses Botbol]

I use to buy a decent QPR dry wine, re-label & give them as gifts during the Holiday season. I leave part of the label area blank, so I cold write a personal message and then adhere it to the bottle.

This year, I was thinking of doing the same, but with Vintage Port or LBV. Do you think this detracts from the bottle in the long term? Let’s say someone gets to drink these personalized gift bottles 10+ years from now; what would someone make of the bottle?

I do put what the house and vintage is on the bottle, but it does not look like the label the house would use.

Has anyone done the same or has received a personalized label before?

I considered painting the bottle with a note, but I am not that talented.

What are your thoughts?

[Derek T.]

Moses,

Feel free to take a bottle of 1970 Nacional, rip off the label and stick a new label on with the words "To Derek from Moses". In 10 years time I will let you know the result of the experiment

Derek

PS: Seriously, I think this is a fun idea and I don't think it detracts anything from the experience that the person recieving the gift would have.

[Moses Botbol]

Moses,

Feel free to take a bottle of 1970 Nacional, rip off the label and stick a new label on with the words "To Derek from Moses". In 10 years time I will let you know the result of the experiment

In 10 years time you'll wonder why the 70 Nacional has a Tesco cork...

[Glenn E.]

Moses,

I suspect it would depend on the friend, and possibly on the bottle in question.

For example, I can see how a personalized label on a 1931 Noval Nacional might detract from the gift. (Note: I would be happy to test the theory. Please label bottle "to Glenn, hope the experiment works!")

But on any sort of "normal" bottle, I would think that a personalized label would enhance the gift because it would remind the recipient of the occasion.

[Moses Botbol]

My bottle gifts would be LBV's like Warre or Noval as I think they can stand some cellaring and do not break the bank. Even the most austere collector would enjoy either bottle too.

[Todd Pettinger]

I think it is a cool idea. A personal touch can always be a good thing.

I wouldn't do it with any VP, but a Crusted or LBV, Ruby, etc. Yeah, for sure.

[Andy Velebil]

I think its cool to have personnalized bottles, but i also love to see the orginal label too. I'd remove the back label or put a new one on top of it so the original is still there. Or even better, is when people use one of those paint pens to write a short message on the bottle. I've got one (empty) from David Guimarreans from the last trip that has the coolest little message on it. it wouldn't be so special if the original message was missing.

[JacobH]

There are quite a few companies that do this sort of thing professionally (mostly champagne but a few do table wines) but, interestingly, there don’t seem to be any on the web which advertise it for Port. If I were doing this, whether I’d preserve the original label would very much depend on the recipient; some friends I could see being quite keen for the original to be preserved, whilst it wouldn’t bother any others at all.

[Derek T.]

Jacob's post just reminded me of a man I met in Regua earlier this year who does this with Port.

His name is Jose Meireles and, apart from running a business producing specially designed bottles of port, he runs a trendy bar in Regua.

He showed me one of the bottles that his company had made. They take any bottle of port you wish to give them, remove the labels and capsule, and create an embossed metal label of any design you care to choose that is then welded to the bottle. They do look very cool but from what I remember they are not exactly cheap. Jose told me that the bulk of his production is corporate gifts where money isn't an issue.

I have his email address and telephone number of anyone wants it.

Derek

[Andy Velebil]

The difficulty in doing so is the regulations regarding labeling. You would most likely have to get approval from the IVDP, and even possibly the country its imported into, to change a label. Of course, if its like the guy that Derek mentioned, where he gets the bottles and replaces the existing label aftermarket, is one way to skirt around the issue on a small level such as a few bottles here and there. If he did that with several cases and got caught importing them into other countries for commercial purposes he could face the wrath of customs inspectors.

[Derek T.]

If he did that with several cases and got caught importing them into other countries for commercial purposes he could face the wrath of customs inspectors.

Sorry Officer, they don't belong to me. Honest! - But if you let me through you can have one of the bottles for the Station Christmas Party

[Moses Botbol]

The Kirkland/Costco Champagne is one for sure I'll do my own labels on this season. Their Champagne is awesome at $20.00 and beats out any Champagne I have tried under $35.00.

[JacobH]

The difficulty in doing so is the regulations regarding labeling. You would most likely have to get approval from the IVDP, and even possibly the country its imported into, to change a label. Of course, if its like the guy that Derek mentioned, where he gets the bottles and replaces the existing label aftermarket, is one way to skirt around the issue on a small level such as a few bottles here and there. If he did that with several cases and got caught importing them into other countries for commercial purposes he could face the wrath of customs inspectors.

I don’t think you’d have much trouble with that within the EU as long as the various statutory requirements (e.g. alcohol/sulphate contents) were obeyed. Indeed, after posting the above, I remember coming across a company (http://www.surf4wine.co.uk) which did it on a bulk level for Port.

[Roy Hersh]

Gift labeling of bottles is always a fun idea and appreciated. I have a few really old bottles that belonged to others many decades ago that everyone signed. But as a gift, I would not want the original label obscured. I would adhere a gift label to the back of the bottle, with the date given, message etc. including even a recommendation for how long to decant (if given to a non-Port savvy enthusiast).

There are companies in the USA that will laser print gift bottle massages. In fact, I can think of a CA port company called Prager which laser etches bottles with designs or words to be given as birthday or anniversary gifts or for special occasions. I had one made up in a Magnum as a wedding gift back in the 1990s and they did a beautiful job. But these are not labels but actual etched bottles. Windsor is another company that will privately label wines for their clientele. Many others too, if you look around. But doing what Moses mentioned, applying a hand made label is very cool.