True story – I was in Trader Joe’s the other night picking out a bottle of red wine. I’m notoriously bad at this. I don’t really know what makes one wine ‘better’ than another, and I barely understand the lingo. Someone can tell me the technical crap until they’re blue in the face – I still won’t get it or know what to expect. Worse, if it’s not the tastiest bottle, then I have to explain to my wife why I picked a bad one. Not good.

This particular night, though, I felt like rolling the dice and trying something new. Trader Joe’s is at least nice enough to add some description to the wines. They’ll tell a bit about the taste, what you can expect, and suggested foods to go with it. That’s all well and good, but have you ever been to Trader Joe’s? There are probably 100 different red wines to pick from. The descriptions all had words in them like oaky, full, light, or listed a zillion types of berries.

About halfway through working my way down the section and getting more confused than ever, one bottle in particular caught my eye. It was the design that was interesting; it was more than just a label with words that I can’t pronounce. So I read the little tag that Trader Joe’s put in front of it. Instead of the usual adjectives listed above, it told about the symbol on the bottle and its meaning, adding some background detail as to what that wine can be used to celebrate. Guess what? That was the deal clincher for me. INSTANTLY. It hit me on an emotional level (the wine was for a special occasion between me and my wife). More importantly the story behind the bottle was interesting. It gave me something to talk about surrounding my (ir)rational decision process in choosing that bottle. For once, I could actually sound intelligent in discussing a wine and feel proud of the decision that I made. Read More→