Arrogant Frog

In a recent fat envelope from Australia, Flame-Haired Angel's dad included the label of a bottle of French wine he drank in Australia on Bastille Day. Arrogant Frog was born in the up 'n coming Languedoc region of Southern France. It is a wine proud of its Mediterranean origins and it is determined to show off "Old-world" superiority, yet popularly adjusted... with a dash of New-World style. Our croaking critter is just boastful enough to tell you that inside the bottle you will have a purple-toned, fruit-driven red with a "froggish" nose that LEAPS out of the glass. AND... more importantly... our label is not just "another pretty face" ... there is real substance and French savoir-faire behind each seductively silky sip! Serve slightly cool... with most uncomplicated, yet savory meals. BUT... TAKE HEED... PLEASE: Frogs are an endangered species, facing extinction! We beg you NOT to serve our wine with... Frogs' Legs Provencale! MAXIMUM PRODUCTION CAPABILITY: Several Billion Bottles. In addition to the cute marketing, a few things stood out to this wine snoot: First, what's with the elipses? Nothing says "ignoramous writer" like over-use of elipses. Second, I like the cuteness an' all, but a "froggish nose" makes it sound like it just smells bad. I would have gone for something a little more ambiguous, like "It immediately proffers an amphibian bouquet." Third, the bit about endangered Provencale frogs must have struck my father-in-law as a bit ironic, as he drank the wine in Queensland, Australia, which is almost literally drowing in cane toads. And, lastly, I don't know what's implied by the hyperbolic "Several Billion Bottles" (and what's with the leading caps? Sheesh!), but it immediately made me think of the lake of un-drunk French wine that's causing an economic crisis in the industry over here. All that said, especially given the fact of that crisis, it's wonderful to see some modern marketing taking hold in the middle market for French wine. Far better to see "ribet red" than to watch millions of gallons of vinified wine distilled into industrial spirit. Flame-Haired Angel and I are doing our part to see that at least some of that surplus gets drunk. ..