2011 Jun 06 Bespoke Beverages: The Flashest Ways to Drink
You may have noticed that certain restaurants around town have their own branded wine – Flamme, Café de la Poste and Alio Olio are three such examples where the house vino is identifiably of the house. If you’ve seen this, you’ve probably thought “What do I need to do to get my face on a bottle?” If so, there’s good news and better news: One, you’re vain, and two, here’s how to feed your vanity.
Wine Republic
The Wine Republic offer a personalized labeling service that’s open to the average punter, but the volumes required mean that you’d have to be a serious drinker to take them up on it. They tell us, “Most wineries can reel off 400-500 bottles in an hour so they won’t get out of bed for much less than that.” However, if you’re willing to buy around 200 cases or more, then Wine Republic can offer vintages from around RMB 75 per bottle. You can pick from any of their stock. Once you’ve designed your label, they’ll send it to the winery where your chosen vintage will be labeled and then imported. Storage is an issue – you don’t want thousands of bottles strewn around your house (or maybe you do?) but Wine Republic offers a number of handy solutions. If you are buying at the top end of the wine spectrum, then the minimum quantity will come down; obviously you’ll be paying much more per bottle.
Vineyard Wine Experience
This is the most hands-on you can get without getting grapes between your toes and cork under your fingernails. At their Jianwai Soho HQ, they will guide you through the process of making your own wine from scratch. You can visit at several points in the process. Depending on which grape varietal you Whitechoose, your beverage will be ready for consumption in three to eight weeks. A minimum order of 15 bottles – and subsequent orders in multiples of 15 – is required. Prices start at RMB 188 per bottle. Call one or two days in advance to get started.
Vedett
Belgium is not known for its wineries. With good reason. Once monks learned how to make beer, why would they bother with wine? Vedett is from the same brewers as Duvel and they couldn’t be more eager to have your face on their bottles. Visit Vedettchina.com and you’ll be presented with the opportunity to upload your photograph to create your personalized beer. A crate of 24 33cl bottles costs RMB 350 per crate if you live in Shanghai, but why are you reading this magazine if you live in Shanghai? Here in Beijing, with the delivery fee, it’ll set you back RMB 450. That’s RMB 18.75 per bespoke beer. In seven to ten days you can be supping from a bottle plastered with your mug. Orders of five crates get six glasses free; orders of ten crates get a few other free gifts as well.
What’s more, Vedett is currently running a competition where the prize is getting your headshot on thousands of bottles of beer in China. Again, see their website for details. The likely sour aftertaste of this story is that if you do see your face adorning a bottle in a bar, it is unlikely that the proprietors will let you have it for free.
NB. Other wine companies in Beijing offer bespoke labeling services but were unavailable for comment.
For venue details, see directory listings.
Illustration: Joey Guo
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