Your Immortal %@#$!

The buzz is starting about Write This , notably here, here, and here. (Thanks!) Comparisons have been made to recent contests to design crush T-shirts or to put quotes onto corks. (You could also make comparisons with contests for regular folks to produce a TV commercial for a major consumer product, as Dove did a few days ago when they showed the winning entry during the Oscar broadcast.)

Us Twisted Folk are truly flattered to be associated with these seminal (and very cool!) efforts, and indeed we respect that we do stand on the shoulders of giants. However, I'm not aware of any winery (in fact, of any food or beverage company) that has dared to stake their label contents on a consumer contest. And... there is another key distinction that I think is being missed....

A crush T-shirt is certainly an item to be cherished (I know I do), and worn many times over the years, until it finally gets full of holes and is used to clean up after an oil change. And, after a cork is pulled from the bottle it can be kept as a key chain or as a component to a bulletin board. But one day the ravages of time will also turn a cork to dust...

But not a Twisted Oak bottle. We use top quality glass, to be sure. But our labels are not stickers. They are lead-free enamel inks (and 22K gold!) that are direct screen-printed onto the glass and allowed to dry. Then they are baked in this massive furnace at 1200 degrees (that's TWELVE HUNDRED FREAKIN' DEGREES. FAHRENHEIT.) until the printed label is fused as one with the glass beneath.

This means that your Twisted Oak bottle can not only outlast you, but your children, and your children's children... in fact, if the Roman glass they have found laying around the Mediterranean is any indicator (and in lieu of proper recycling), your bottle could last thousands of years into the future, virtually unchanged by the forces of nature and time.

We're not just offering the person who sends in the winning entry fame, glory, and a case of No - we're offering them IMMORTALITY!

You better enter. Now.

Comments

[Tim]

El Jefe,

Thanks for pointing out my lack of depth in my analysis. Since I don't have one of your bottles handy I forgot about that 1,200 degree oven bit; my bad. Next week I will marvel at the back labels in awe at the Minneapolis Twisted Oak dinner (reservations still being accepted at http://winecast.net BTW).

Bravo!

[el jefe]

hi Tim - I'm sorry, it wasn't my intent to make you feel sad. It's not commonly known that we bake on our labels. I recently received an email from someone who asked how to remove our labels - he had "soaked and soaked" and it just wouldn't come off...

Have fun at the dinner! - j

[Mike Duffy]

I'd like to have a trained professional do a careful evaluation of your claims of "bottle immortality." If you would be so kind as to send me a bottle (full) for testing....

[el jefe]

hi Mike - "Winery Bottle Test Lab" a new venture for you...?-)