If you happened to have the odd £50k going spare, you could have snapped up the sixty bottle collection of every vintage from 1945 to 2003 (1948 apart) of Château Mouton Rothschild at Sotheby’s recent 40th anniversary auction. The significance of the collection lies in the artists’ labels, commissioned for each new vintage by Baron Philippe de Rothschild, and painted by, among others, Miró (1969), Chagall (1970), Picasso (1973), Andy Warhol (1975) and Francis Bacon (1990). The tradition was maintained by his daughter Baroness Philippine, after his death, but this particular haul stopped one year short of the 2004 label painted by one, Prince Charles.

Raymond Savignac's 1999 Mouton Rothschild label

Claude Taittinger had already drawn on his company’s 1960s Belle Epoque-style poster, when he followed the example of Philippe de Rothschild in creating the Taittinger Collection. Among the various artists commissioned to design limited edition bottles of Taittinger’s champagne were Vasarely, Roy Liechtenstein, and André Masson. Given up for dead during the Great War, Masson had been administered a glass of champagne as a form of ‘last sacrament’. Not only did he make a full recovery but, on finding it to be an aphrodisiac, sketched a couple emerging from a moment of heart-stopping bliss to illustrate the ecstasy of the moment. Taittinger’s 11-bottle Collection today sells on the net for £4,300.

The offending Balthus 1993 label

The latest to receive the broad brush treatment is the luxurious 2002 Dom Pérignon, £85.39, Lay & Wheeler (0845 330 1855). Central St. Martin's Design team has created a pop art label Andy Warhol version in red, blue and yellow, £140 a pop at The Champagne Company (07952 665595). Arty champagne design is not always successful. When the hip-hop star Jay-Z fell out with Cristal, into the breach stepped Armand de Brignac ‘Ace of Spades’. This hitherto obscure champagne comes in a garish metallic gold, adorned with a pewter ace of spades label. Despite the medallion man bling and £250 price tag, the Brut Gold, from Cattier, is an excellent fizz.

Marilyn Merlot

The line between taste and kitsch can be a fine one. Kröver Nacktarsch depicts a German kellermeister smacking a young boy’s bare bottom. You might think Italy’s answer to be Marsala’s Terre Arse but this is simply Italian that gets lost in translation. It’s surprising how many amusingly tasteless wine labels there are, from France’s unprepossessing Brouilly Pisse-Vieille and Fat Bastard to Australia’s Château La Trine and California’s Cleavage Creek.

Cleavage Creek

In fairness to the latter, described as ‘full-bodied and vivacious’, it started out as a would-be collector’s item, like Marilyn Merlot, but its new owner, Budge Brown, donates 10% of proceeds to breast cancer research. In contrast, a surreal madonna’s naked top in Anelia Pavlova’s Australian portrait designed for Peter Lehmann’s Queen of Clubs Series had to be airbrushed for the American market.

Such labels are fertile ground for the prudish. 30,000 bottles of the 1993 Mouton Rothschild had to be recalled when the BATF found Balthus’ pre-pubescent nymphet too provocative. It recalled the saga of Kenwood Winery's ‘Naked Lady’ painted by David Goines for the winery’s first Artist Series label for its 1975 Cabernet.

Kenwood's Naked Lady

The BATF demanded that the reclining nude on a hillside vineyard be deleted, so he painted a skeleton instead. Artists might be better off sticking to tasteless political labels like Alessandro Lunardelli’s historical series, featuring among other Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler. It may have left a bitter taste in the mouth, but sales went through the roof. www.anthonyrosewine.com

Something For the Weekend 16 October 2010

Under a Fiver

Saluti NV Vino da Tavola Bianco

A distinctive triumvirate of the grecanico, catarratto and trebbiano grapes from the two regions of Sicily and Romagna, this is a zingily unoaked, peachy dry non-vintage white with a twist of grapefruit zestiness on the aftertaste. £4.99, Waitrose

Under a Tenner

2009 The Parcel Series Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, Wairau, New Zealand

Mysteriously, the producer of this bright Marlborough sauvignon with its fragrant freshness and Sancerre-like intensity of gooseberry fruit tinged with green pepper prefers to remain anonymous. £9.99, buy 2 = £7.99, until 1 November, Majestic

Splash Out

2008 Bonny Doon Mourvèdre Central Coast, California

In its aromatic, silky-textured dark red berry fruitiness and refreshingly savoury acidity , there’s a European cast to this spicy blend of old vine mourvèdre, grenache and carignan from the great doonmonger, Randall Grahm. £11.99, Marks & Spencer.