For many of you readers out there, it’s almost time to mosey up to the dining room table and give thanks over an exceedingly large meal. Well while you’re at it, we hope you’ll pour yourself a glass of wine and help a needy kid on the other side of the world. Intrigued? Just check out No House, a new wine label out of South Africa.

Proceeds from the sale of No House’s reds, whites, pinks, and fizzies go straight toward building homes for children who have lost their parents to AIDS. Plus, No House’s antique-chic blue and white bottles – created by the Dutch design firm Studio Boot – will be sure to add a classy touch to your table. So raise a glass, and raise a roof.

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Lunar cycles, celestial rhythms, mystical teachings, these are the makings of a truly unique glass of wine. And it is exactly what you can expect from the debut vintage of Burn Cottage Vineyard, nestled in the coveted foothills of Central Otago, New Zealand. Burn Cottage is a new, entirely biodynamic winery that embraces a most enchanting practice in viticulture, balancing terroir winemaking with minimal technology, a harmonious farm ecosystem, and an emphasis on accentuating the natural genius of the property.

Vines were carefully planted in blocks according to soil aspects and coexist next to grazing Highland cattle, beehives and an olive grove.

Their equally magical packaging design was envisioned by our favourite Aussie creative agency Mash and comprises a collage of images from Von Goethe’s tale of the “Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily”. This is widely known as having informed the work of the founding father of biodynamic agriculture and underlies the merits of humans working symbiotically with their environment.

It isn’t hard to believe then that their first wine is said to be earthy, fresh and complex. Try a glass and prepare to encounter viticulture at its most organic.

The aromatic white wines from New Zealand’s boutique winery &Co are the embodiment of simplicity. Founded only in 2009, this winery seeks to produce a single unique estate wine each year from their north-facing hillside vines that are said to bear notes of passionfruit, guava and lime.

In an effort to capture this spirit of simplicity and singularity, Inhouse design came up with a terribly chic packaging scheme for its bottles, making traditional corkscrewed wines seem shabby in comparison. These bottles feature a striking black and white palette with bold typography and an unusually appealing crown seal. Suddenly the crown seal looks totally hip. So pop a cap and pour a glass for yourself… and company, because with these bottles, you’ve got to drink it all. What a shame.

Finally, a group of creative types in the United States have come together with a mission to make wine labels cool, approachable, and pleasing to look at. Say hello to Proof Wine Collective. Furthermore, their clients are small wine producers that are exceptionally passionate about winemaking, employing a terroir driven approach to their purple stuff.

For example, there’s the Alta Maria Pinot Noir (recently awarded a 93 by the respected Wine Spectator), a wine made by a Rhone-style winemaker and a Ninth Generation Californian Viticulturalist. Looks like we’ve found a way to celebrate the arts by appreciating what’s on the bottle as well as the craft inside of it.

The Blonde Bombshell is right. With its inspired pulp-movie-esc look and feel this new California white is sure to seduce. The brainchild of wine maker Jeff Booth, The Blonde Bombshell was the result of combining two Californian favorites – Hollywood and wine – into one badass sexy bottle.

Designed by South Carolina-based Hook, the labels were created not only to pop on the shelves, but to match the wine’s own fun, fruity taste as well. And if you’re super keen on these saucy vineyard vixens, The Blonde Bombshell is sister to The Big Red Monster – another old-Hollywood chic classic. Hot cha cha, baby.

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Having met during the making of The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola and film production designer Dean Tavoularis continued to put their creative minds together for years following the film’s close. A few more films, interior and exterior designs, and other random projects later, Tavoularis’ artwork is now gracing the labels of Francis Coppola Reserve wines.

This limited edition production, highlights the vineyard’s renowned terroire and the beauty of Tavoularis’ striking work. With labels and wine as gorgeous as this, you can leave the gun – and the cannoli – and take the wine.

At Gut Oggau Estate Wines, generations of vintners have been producing Austrian wines with quality and character. Literally. To help the drinker identify what they can expect once the cork is popped, Gut Oggau assigned an actual face and personality to their wines. Each portrait on the label has a name and tells a story.

What started off somewhat simply – a younger portrait signifies a younger wine – has now grown more complex over time and today nine Gut Oggau Wines are all interconnected as grandparents, parents, and children, with interwoven stories and relationships. Designed by German agency Jung von Matt, the unique portraits boast beautiful illustrations, saturated with life and individuality. So, forget the rolling hills — let’s talk about a wine with real character.

Based out of an old tractor factory, the Mini Garage Winery rocks garage-style packaging to hold its fruit brandy. Cherry, pear, and plum schnapps are stored in sleek canisters that represent the wineries’ grease-monkey roots.

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.

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Ever been totally confounded by the wine selection at your local booze shop? 94wines is here to help. Using a fun little survey on its website, the Dutch company claims it can find several wines that will be a perfect match for your particular tastes. Just answer six simple questions (Do you prefer mint or pepper? Would you rather walk on the beach or in a forest?), and out pops your ‘wine ID’. The company has its own line of wines – with names like Fresh, Spicy and Luscious — that are then matched to your score, and you can order them straight off the site. The company calls it ‘the most personal wine in the world’ — we call it a stellar idea.

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.

Australian vintners Inkwell commissioned design firm Mash to create a new look for their bottles. The inkblot concept may seem obvious, but it’s really well done, and lends the bottles a sense of elegance and mystery — it will also really jump out on a shelf alongside a bunch of other wine.

Continuing in its tradition of striking brand imagery, the oh-so Italian apertif, Campari, has launched three inspired reinterpretations of its label. To celebrate its 150th birthday, the brand enlisted three contemporary artists for its Art Label Project: an initiative to highlight the cocktail’s long-standing love affair with the art world.

Using Campari’s notorious red hue as a muse of sorts, the three artists (one of which was a collective) took up the task of designing some knock-out new tags. From jazz-inspired, to an ethereal female wrapped in her own red hair, to an abstract interpretation of digital design, all three are unique and beautiful making for an overall exclusive — and molto buono — collection. Depending on where you on a map, this limited edition series is on sale throughout this year. Salute!

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So, first, a basic ‘You Ought To Know’ fact about wine. Expensive and palette seducing alcoholic grape juice always, and I mean always, highlights a sense a place. Meaning that the savvy wine drinker should be able to express the region where the grapes originates – with the über-connoisseur able to pinpoint a specific vineyard site and sometimes even that very plot of land within that vineyard. But, let’s be real. We’re rarely looking to drop $600 plus for that special Harlan Napa Cab experience and much of the time all we really want is that no-frills ‘Drink Till You’re Drunk’ Wine. Right?

Well, now you have it. Get your fists ready to tilt back the faddish Marauding Vintners Red Mr. (Pinot) Noir and White Miss (Pinot) Grigio, both made from contracted grapes from all across the world. As Marauding respectably laughs at their mysterious creations by enlisting the talented help of Illustrator, Harry Slaghekke at M/A/S/H Design Agency, you will soon be able to neglect that 2-Buck-Chuck in lieu of one Sugar Daddy Mobster or his respective Younger, Female companion, for under $10. Who’s getting robbed? Nope. It’s definitely not you.

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.

By appointing the M C Escher protégé, István Orosz, the line, Chateau Chateau, comes alive with Optical Illusion wonderment. He’s also succeeded in telling us a story — most notably seen in his label depiction of the two-faced Granache/Mourvèdre blend. At first look there appears a skillfully crafted skull (Powerhouse Granache), but at second glance there’s a gentler image (Soft Mouvèdre) – a white picket fence and man suspending from tree branches. Has fine art and fine wine finally made its way to the masses? Indeed, it seems it may be time to drink up.

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.

From the Snake Charmer to their most recent addition, Sirenya, these Public Creative-designed labels transcend traditional styles, throwing a bit more excitement into the increasingly aesthetically interesting New World wine market mix. And then there’s the wine itself. With grapes sourced from South and Western Australia and a solid reputation as a quality wine, Vinaceous has developed somewhat of a cult follwing around Oz. So if you’re in the mood for a little madness, give them a go. After all, life’s a circus.

From the cool cats at Mash Design, comes yet another stellar set of creative, fun wine labels. This time around, Mash’s imaginative energy was put towards a series of designs for Red Heads Studio — an inspired collection of fifteen Southern Australian wines that garner impressive reviews worth boasting about. Though Mash is responsible for a number of the Red Heads Studio labels, the comic book like imagery for Esule stands out from the lot. Here, through imaginative illustrations that reflect ‘falling from grace’, the black and white labels convey the story of how two former kings of the wine grape world — Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc — were cast aside as other varieties came into vogue. But whatever the history, for sure Mash’s stylish design coupled with Esule’s strong wine ratings will help this deep, velvety red climb its way back up in the ranks.

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Renowned photographers Bèla Adler and Salvador Fresneda have paired together with Spanish agency Moruba to create a modern project for sustainable viticulture: Matsu’s photographic wine series. In this beautiful packaging, the labels for Spanish-based organic winery Matsu reveal the portraits of three generations that devote their lives to the vineyard. Each personality featured on the different bottles embodies the distinctiveness of that wine. Adler and Fresneda’s work captures the characters in a way that brings to life Matsu’s philosophy of linking nature with those that care about it. Through this portrait series, Matsu’s wine trilogy of ‘El Pícaro’, ‘El Recio’ and ‘El Viejo’ is stunningly realized.

Whenever I can’t decide which wine to choose, I go for the one with the coolest label. That’s exactly how I discovered Mollydooker. This award-winning vineyard not only boasts some of the most creative, innovative, and artistic labels of any bottle on the shelf, but the Australian winery produces delicious stock with stellar ratings. Year after year Mollydooker’s stash wins accolades for its voluptuousness, richness, and pure taste. The winery’s bottles are consistently rated one of the world’s best value, and rating guru Robert Parker even awarded a hefty 99 out of 100 points to their awe-inspiring series.

Despite the bar being set at towering heights, the label’s ingeniousness manages to compete for center-stage. Designed by Australian-based agency, Mash Studio, the stickers are playful and colorful, inspired by antique books and old-school advertising illustrations. Reflecting the attention to detail that Mollydooker puts into its wines, all type was hand drawn and on certain series, custom fonts and writing recite poetry. Every label also weaves in quirky stories that narrate the history of the Mollydooker husband-and-wife team’s grape-crushing life. With superb attention to detail and formidable talent both in the design and the wine-making, Mollydooker is a definite knockout.