
Australia’s Alpha Box and Dice wines
Among ‘garage’ wine makers, Justin Lane is a legend for his passionately crafted wines, eclectic style, and loveable rogue-vintner ways. So after years of making other people’s bottles notorious, Lane’s newest incarnation — his own unique wine label — has been well anticipated. So too has its accompanying cellar door, AB&D Wine Salon. Here, Lane’s Alpha Box & Dice wines can be tasted in this quirky, though stylish, space. And the wines, like the cellar door, are full of character.
Of course, it was therefore necessary that the labels were too. Enter Mashdesign. In collaboration with Lane, thiscreative agency worked to dream up an image that would reflect the storytelling, old-school methods, and eclecticism that is Alpha Box & Dice. Each wine tells a story – 26 letters, 26 interconnected narratives.
Now available are ABCD&F (Apostle, Blood of Jupiter, Changing Lanes, Dead Winemakers Society, Fog), so whether at their cellar door or your local liquor store, make sure you get to know your ABCs.
Tagged: Australian wine, cool wine labels, wine
RELATED

Wine by Some Young Punks is, as you could guess, the product of three young Australian winemakers who have a reputation for solid wines and standout labels. The images plastered across the bottles are inspired, ‘bright and intense’ — intended to echo the wines themselves. Selected from original 1950s book covers, the packaging, like the wine, is juicy, tantalizing, and charismatic. And just as the name of one of their signature wines suggests, passion really does have red lips.

Is that a one thousand dollar bottle of Mouton Rothschild with a label emblazoning the commissioned work of a famed artists such as Kadinsky, Chagall, Dali or Picasso? No and No. Instead, what you’re looking at is a surprisingly affordable bottle from the Australian producer, R Wines. Read more

Want to add a little mystery to your wine? How about something with a wondrous past? Well, look no further than Vinaceous. Hailing from Australia, Vinaceous Wines rock striking labels depicting sexy circus characters with quirky personas. Read more
Also by THE URBAN GROCER

Olive Branch: a new boutique olive oil brand
Spanakopita, tomato and feta salad, grape leaves. The Greek tradition has given the world a plethora of beautifully simple eats. But no amount of feta could compete with the ultimate gift from the Greek gods: Olive oil. The sun soaked Mediterranean hills mean that Greece has a natural talent for producing some of the world’s finest olive oils. Read more

Some people like their bacon black and crispy. Others like it a gently seared pinkish brown. Well, we’re here to tell you that there’s a brand new way to enjoy your favorite piggy treat: In red and white stripes. And you don’t chew it, you lick it. That’s right, folks. We’re talking about bacon-flavored candy canes, and given that this year’s bacon craze doesn’t seem anywhere close to dying down, we’re betting that these babies are going to be selling hot and fast this holiday season. Move over mint, pork is so 2011. Read more

Forget the chateaux. Forget the birds. Forget whatever nonsensical French-countryside illustrations you’ve seen on wine labels. And enter Mash. Always creative, never predictable, Mash is one of our favorite creative agencies. Hailing from Australia, their portfolio is an excess of clever, unexpected, and quirky takes on otherwise predictable products – like wine. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (0)
No comments yet.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Whoever said ‘good things come in small packages’ was probably right in many respects. But when comparing the satisfaction of a single Gummi Bear, compared to treating yourself to an Astro from Vat19; the only decision you need to make is how you’re going to eat it. Knife and fork, anyone?
Cyprus-based designer Alexis Marcou has a unique style that looks like images seen through shattered glass, prisms, and crystals. Read more
If animated wall drawings of severed heads and insect men ejecting their brains from their craniums is what people produce when they have too much time on their hands, then we should do their laundry for them and cook them dinner so they’ll have even more time on their hands.
Ulan Bator is so cock-frosting cold, homeless drunks live in hot water pipes underneath the city. Basque photographer Migel Aristregi travelled to the coldest capital in the world to document the lives of the city’s many homeless residents. [read an interview with Migel Aristregi at Don't Panic online] Read more
Activists from all walks of life — architects, artists, children, students, skaters, and more — are documented on the Tools for Actions website, aiming to show us how, whether deliberate or not, the tiniest or the biggest project driven by the quietest or loudest voice can trigger radical change in today’s urban centres. It’s an inspiring blog, particularly for those feeling disempowered. Read more
Skeletonbreath pound out some pretty raging post-punk anthems with a violin taking the lead rather than a vocalist. The trio can get surprisingly loud, despite frontman Robert Pycior’s classically trained virtuosity.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
This t-shirt is doing the rounds on Facebook profiles and Tweets at the moment. And rightly so! Artists worldwide, be proud of your profession, value your work, and proclaim it loud and clear.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST

Christoph Niemann illustrates a nightmare flight
New York Times illustrator Christoph Niemann has created a brilliant visual diary outlining the peril and pitfalls that beset the everyday passenger based on his recent experience flying from New York to his home town of Berlin. Read more

Benjamin Edminston’s psychedelic heads seem to have some fearful wisdom behind their blissed-out eyes. Read more

Matthew Dear’s Black City album totem
Our friends at Ghostly International are releasing Matthew Dear’s Black City album as a limited edition ‘totem’. A what? A totem – a limited edition metal bar used to access a private music chamber. Cool! Read more

It’s refreshing to see artists like Joe Kievitt who are contented to explore the beauty in simple forms and asymmetrical patterns. Read more

Mathematics? Leave me out. Fashematics? Now you’re talking! This gem of a site is a runway equation that adds up to a whole lot of wonderful.
This Powder Necklace features a pearlized Turbo Cinereus shell with tiny holes drilled into the bottom, filled with a sparkling silver-colored powder that when gently tapped, sprinkles a light dusting on the wearer’s chest. Designed by Stephanie Simek. Read more
If you have a Twitter feed that focuses on cool pop cultural things and you’d like to swap Tweets with Lost At E Minor and other like-minded Twitterers, drop us a note (with Tweet Swap in the title). We have a system in place and we’d like to have you in on it! [illustration by Brad Fitzpatrick]
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it's not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.



