Alabama bans wine depicting naked nymph flying with bicycle

Alabama's new state motto (with apologies to Orsen Wells who delivered this punch line for Paul Masson):

“We will serve no wine before it's time naked nymphs on bicycles are removed from the label.”

 

The Cycles Gladiator brand of wine has been banned from shelves in Alabama by the Alabama Beverage Commission because the label is deemed pornographic.

The art is nothing new. The label is a replica of a Parisian bicycle poster dating back to 1895 and shows a nude woman flying through the heavens with a bicycle. Naked, yes. Pornographic, no.

And as a wine label it's been on Cycles Gladiator since at least 2006. Further, the Alabama alcoholic beverage commission approved the label back in 2006, according to Bill Leigon, president of Hahn Family Wines in Napa Valley, California.

Quoted at the Lagniappe blog, Hahn said they've sold 600,000 cases of Cycles Gladiator in the US and around the world, and this is the first complaint about the label art. Apparently the ABC was drawn into action by a complaint.

When I wrote about wines with bicycle themes a couple of years ago, I included Cycles Gladiator, quoting the website:

“His mythological image of the ‘winged bicycle’ captures the stylish grace, beauty, and unfettered freedom of our hillside vineyards. Let Cycles Gladiator whisk you away for the ride of your life.”

Apparently that's not a ride that's allowed in Alabama.

James Laube at Wine Spectator thinks a better reason the label was banned is because it depicted someone riding a bicycle without a helmet.

Hahn said there is a label version that will pass muster in Alabama, but he's not sure it's worth relabeling for the 500 cases that have been sold there.

The Cycles Gladiator brand sponsors plenty of bicycling action around the US. There's the VOS/Cycles Gladiator and Champion Systems/Cycles Gladiator racing teams, as well as the “Uninhibited Racing Award” in California and a sprint jersey at the Cadence Cup in Brooklyn. It also was the official wine sponsor of LiveStrong Challenge in 2009 and participated in MS150 bike rides.

In any case, Alabama won't be left without a bicycle-themed wine. I doubt there's anything on the Red Bicyclette label created by E & J Gallo that the ABC board can find objectionable.