The Big Claw has arrived!

As a retailer, you have to look upon gimmic wine labels with a skeptical eye. You have to weigh several factors before deciding the fate of a wine with a whimsical label: How is the wine?, Is the label offensive?, Do I have customers who would be attracted to the label? What about the price? All of these factors weigh in differently at different times of the year. For instance, recently I picked up a label called The Sopranos. One is a chianti and the other a pinot grigio, the two most identified Italian wines. The label features the t.v. logo and silhouette handguns...pretty cheesy. Not to mention that the show has been off t.v. for two or three years. But then again, the chianti was decent; full, medium body, touch of tannic dryness and a splash of black cherry fruit finished off with some spice. And then I knew of two or three Italian heritage customers who were fans of the show. So I picked them up and they are selling well currently.
The newest of the gimmic wines to come my way is Big Claw. It's a wine purportedly designed to go "perfectly" with lobster. And just to make sure you understand that, there is a giant Maine Lobster claw gracing the label. The wine is a blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Colombard. It's sort of a classic French white Bordeaux styled blend with the colombard tossed in to give it a bright flash of citrus fruit.
I was skeptical, to say the least. it would be akin to finding a wine label that showed a cow's hindquarters on the label and was called Tender Hoof: the Perfect Steak wine. But I could see the value of finding a gimmic wine that took the guesswork out of pairing a wine with lobster. And priced at 11.99, it was in the right ballpark. So I decided to put it to the test.
On July 4th we hosted some long lost friends for the weekend to indulge in food and wine. While neither Rhonda nor I are big fans of lobster, we thought we could serve Big Claw with some mussels and get the same effect. We started by making a broth with half a cup of the wine, chopped onions, chopped garlic, chopped tomatoes, and cubed pepperoni. After bringing this savory stew to a boil we dropped the mussels in and covered the pot, letting the mussels absorb the steamy aroma of the broth. In just minutes it was done and we served them on a big platter, with plenty of the broth in the bottom for dipping with bread. The wine paired perfectly with the mussels and we all agreed that it truly would be perfect with lobster or shrimp. The wine had plenty of structure, almost too heavy in the mouth at first, but then the acidity sparkled through and carried the fresh fruit finish to all corners of the mouth. It was fine to drink on its own, but it was truly meant to be a food wine with plenty of power and finish to enhance seafood prepared in most any style. We actually tried two other white wines, but they paled in comparison to the Big Claw.
So I will be carrying this wine at Foodstop, and not just because of the pretty label!