Forty Ounce Wines in REtrospect.
Daniel Meeks
Wine X Online Edition
Remember the micro-scandal surrounding Forty Ounce Wines? The wine world has
largely gone quiet since celebrity sommelier Patrick Cappiello launched the brand with a small
production, organically farmed Muscadet by French winemaker Julien Braud. Like a sheep in
wolf’s clothing, the wine-geek(ish) juice packaged in malt liquor bottles enjoyed swift success
among industry insiders. Then came the viral response to the summer 2017 release of the
Forty Ounce Rosé. It swept up the face of a pink rogue wave that washed up on the likes of
Bravo, E!, and the Today Show. But wait, was that a hint of cultural appropriation on the
nose? Sure, more Beastie Boys than Vanilla Ice, but still… maybe it’s harmless, like DJ
Premier sampling Beethoven.
All this for a porch-pounder seemingly designed NOT to be taken seriously. A brand
that passes on the ubiquitous stelvin closure and cheekily cuts production costs with 40 oz
screw caps. “With the Forty Ounce, we’re trying to make wine more approachable,” said
Cappiello in an interview with Food and Wine. He later elaborated that they had never
intended Forty Ounce Rose to become a trend, and admitted the publicity had put a strain on
the project. Cappiello’s concerns turned out to be unfounded; you can now purchase “ghetto”
French wine in 35 US states and Canada.
Regardless of the brand’s success, Forty Ounce Wines is a side dish to the meat of
achievements on Cappiello’s personal website–a venture quarantined to a sidebar. The
whole thing brings to mind the awkwardness of Adam Horowitz apologizing for homophobic
lyrics on License To Ill or Robert William Van Winkle thrashing an MTV set while pulverizing a
copy of “Ice Ice Baby” and seudo-threatening John Daily with a baseball bat. When Dexter
Holland of The Offspring was questioned about the racial implications of the hit single, “Pretty
Fly (For A White Guy)”, he clarified that it was a criticism “on poseurs in general,” then added,
“We’re getting amusement out of it more than anything else.”
