Can you tell from only a blurry picture what wine this is?

[James_Billy]

Great detective work and an interesting thread!

The bottle in the above post has a ‘tour’ and a cross. The original didn’t, but everything else looks the same. The fact that in the place of these two logos is a ‘v’ and the producer in the tower/cross bottle starts with a ‘v’, I’d say it’s highly likely to be the same/similar wine.

Domaine Bitouzet-Prieur Beaujolais-villages. Maybe even the same cuvee, but we can’t be sure. Unfortunately, this domaine don’t seem to make a Beaujolais anymore.

Domain Bitouzet-Prieur François Bitouzet - BVV

[Kris_Patten]

Looks like an old B&G label to me, a friend had a bunch of these from 50s and 60s, when they had great holdings and land leases.

[Jay_Miller]

I don’t disagree it looks like Beaujolais however the context doesn’t make sense completely.

Wedding - usually a higher end wine so burgundy would make more sense)

1978 - if I’m not mistaken Beaujolais has been more of a popular recent phenomenon amongst Somms and wine geeks?

Wedding in the USA in 1978 - unless your parents were true oeniphiles I just can’t imagine they would go the Beaujolais route

You have to understand how small the wine world was back then. The UNited States did not have anywhere near the sophistication of wine drinking we have now. Beaujolais, heck anything from France would have been seen as “high class” regardless of what the appellation was, so I could see this for a wedding (Lancers would have been seen as a special wine, so this is clearly a step up!).

I remember a friend ordering a Beaujolais at a dinner in the '70s. They were definitely around.

[Ian_Sutton]

Top work folks. I salute you.

I just noticed that there is a BV from the same negociant DOMAINE DE LOYSE BEAUJOLAIS-VILLAGES 2005 HENRI DE VILLAMONT

An inexpensive wine, but wine-searcher currently only showing as available in Japan, though Robersons in the UK used to stock it, so it might be feasible to chase one down via a google search. https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/domaine+de+loyse+beaujolais-villages

So I reckon Dario has 3 good options:

1. Get a good Beaujolais Villages that’s going to be very appetising
2. Get a fancier wine from Domaine Bitouzet-Prieur, say a Volnay
3. Try and find the Domaine de Loyse B-V

[Neal.Mollen]

I lean towards the Bojo view, however looking at the positioning, I’m in the camp that it’s probably Beaujolais Villages as they would have centred that text - meaning there is another word forming the appellation name.

I suppose it could also bring Beaujolais Nouveau into the equation, but was that term used widely on labels?

Early for nouveau. It existed, but wasn’t widely distributed in bottles overseas at that time. (if at all). I do remember casks in Paris about that time

and I am exceptionally dubious that you could buy bojo in magnum back then.

[Neal.Mollen]

I think that logo is one used by Henri de Villamont at the time. I knew it looked familiar, but I can’t take credit for remembering who it was. It was the V that helped me narrow down the google search.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/293437731961534925

That looks very much like it!

[Thomas_Keim]

Domaine Bitouzet-Prieur?

Good guess. Certainly very similar:

https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=V5_HW5HYMcXAsQXp3qLQDQ&q=1978+bitouzet+prieur+wine+labels&oq=1978+bitouzet+prieur+wine+labels&gs_l=img.3...43819.44518..44870...0.0..0.82.397.5......0....1..gws-wiz-img.ulEHde9onqw#imgrc=UY-44AP05lYNzM:

Pretty sure their label was more yellow back then - I had some '78 and '80 reds from them many moons ago, and used to sell them retail -

[Thomas_Keim]

I think that logo is one used by Henri de Villamont at the time. I knew it looked familiar, but I can’t take credit for remembering who it was. It was the V that helped me narrow down the google search.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/293437731961534925

Pretty sure you nailed it - big negociant label back then -

[Andrew_Kotowski]

Thanks for the challenge/enjoyable time suck. Didn’t find your label, but was surprised to see how many producers in the Healdsburg area were making it in this time frame - Rafanelli, Hop Kiln, Windsor all have records in CellarTracker (as did Sebastiani).

[Markus_S]

I don’t disagree it looks like Beaujolais however the context doesn’t make sense completely.

Wedding - usually a higher end wine so burgundy would make more sense)

1978 - if I’m not mistaken Beaujolais has been more of a popular recent phenomenon amongst Somms and wine geeks?

Wedding in the USA in 1978 - unless your parents were true oeniphiles I just can’t imagine they would go the Beaujolais route

You have to understand how small the wine world was back then. The UNited States did not have anywhere near the sophistication of wine drinking we have now. Beaujolais, heck anything from France would have been seen as “high class” regardless of what the appellation was, so I could see this for a wedding (Lancers would have been seen as a special wine, so this is clearly a step up!).

I remember a friend ordering a Beaujolais at a dinner in the '70s. They were definitely around.

I wasn’t saying they weren’t around, I know they were. But a simple Beaujolais would have been seen as something celebratory and not dismissed as today being only a regional wine (or not a Grand Cru Burgundy).

[Robert.A.Jr]

Looks like an old B&G label to me, a friend had a bunch of these from 50s and 60s, when they had great holdings and land leases.

My exact thought when I opened this thread

[Wes_Barton]

Thanks for the challenge/enjoyable time suck. Didn’t find your label, but was surprised to see how many producers in the Healdsburg area were making it in this time frame - Rafanelli, Hop Kiln, Windsor all have records in CellarTracker (as did Sebastiani).

You’re referring to “Gamay Beaujolais”. That wasn’t really Gamay, but is one of many examples of European wine terms used to help sell American wine. Beaujolais wasn’t unheard of back then. (Most grapes going by that name turned out to be a Pinot Noir clone.)