Label of the Month: Sapolil Cellars “Papa Loves Mambo”

SAPOLIL CELLARS
PAPA LOVES MAMBO

Art is just so damn subjective, wouldn’t you agree? There’s really no other way to start a thought when hoping to discuss objectively the merits of an “artist series” wine label such as the one above by Walla Walla’s Sapolil Cellars. While there are some timeless pieces that we all seem to agree are worthy of pure objectively, things like “Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh and the “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci, it becomes a little more difficult to come to an overall positive consensus on, say, your nephew’s finger painting mounted on the refrigerator. Adorable as it may be, it sucks.

Artist series labels sometimes scratch the art critic itch in all of us, which would seem to throw all of the otherwise complementary marketing efforts to the wind. “Here is my heavier-than-average-bottle, my glass topper, my Red Mountain fruit, and a label that was done by my dog.” It just doesn’t make sense.

Sapolil’s Papa Loves Mambo artist series does make sense. Commissioned by the winery, Walla Walla artist Jeffry Hill captured the actual band, Papa Loves Mambo, in the very wine bar that bears the wine’s name. Did you get that? The label depicts the band playing in the wine bar that bears the wine’s name, where the actual Papa Loves Mambo band plays, while the PLM wine is poured, which has a label that depicts the band playing… It is so recursively poetic that if you think about it long enough you may find yourself lost in a Mandelbrot Set, catatonic and legitimately ill enough to call into work tomorrow.

Further, we might go as far as to argue that Mr. Hill has honed his craft to the point of “really, really good.” The label sings in jazzy colors and is as inviting as it is inspired.

Have a look at what we thought of the wine in this issue’s Round
Table.