Winemakers have but a few square inches in which to encourage a sale. And until recently, most filled that real estate with sober images—stately châteaus, humdrum landscapes, intricate crests—meant to convey the refined nature of what was inside.

But several factors have conspired to push wine labels in a new direction. The modern attitude toward wine is more casual and less elitist; in Australia, Cassella Wines’ Yellow Tail has seen phenomenal success with the wallaby “critter” on its packaging; and not least, there are now more than 100,000 wines currently available in the U.S., according to wine-industry consultants Gomberg Fredrikson & Associates.

To make their products stand out, many winemakers are taking clever, daring, and sometimes even radical approaches to labeling. They’re putting as much attention into what’s on the bottle as what’s in it, turning to labels that shout “Buy me!” or, in some cases, “Touch me!”

Mollydooker, an Australian company known for its rich, intense wines, learned that buyers are “much more likely to purchase a wine they actually touch on the shelf,” says Alicia Kelley Raymond, its U.S. director of marketing. Hence, what’s attached to Mollydooker’s flagship Velvet Glove Shiraz, made in outstanding years only, is, well, a black velvet glove.

While it has one of the more unusual labels, Mollydooker isn’t the only company getting creative with its packaging. To commemorate its 130th anniversary, Veuve Clicquot used exotic ostrich, alligator, and stingray skins on its limited-edition Yellow Label Champagne. Napa Valley’s Carneros della Notte labels glow in the dark. Michel Chapoutier’s Rhône Valley wines have had braille on their labels since 1996. There are even talking bottles—several high-end Brunello di Montalcino producers have had chips embedded in their labels so that “each wine can explain itself in the first person,” according to Daniele Barontini, owner of Modulgraf, the Italian company that creates them. Finally, if none of these labels appeal, wineries such as New York’s Millbrook Vineyards let consumers create their own.

Though winemakers must take on the expense—and time—involved in designing such labels, they often cost only slightly more than conventional stickers. (One winemaker said they’re cheaper than the better-quality labels he uses on his more expensive wines.) Even the Mollydooker Velvet Glove Shiraz label costs just $1.43, close to the $1.20 price of the cork. Many winemakers, though, are simply using playful labels that don’t add any extra expense.

The wines can be terribly serious, if the packaging isn’t. Mollydooker, which is owned and run by husband-and-wife team Sparky and Sarah Marquis, has earned ratings in the 90s—many of them actually 99s—from wine critic Robert Parker and influential wine magazines.

“We put as much thought into the designs of our labels as we do into our wines themselves,” Sarah Marquis says. “We want the whole experience with Mollydooker to be fun, rewarding, stimulating, and memorable.”

Other labels feature illustrations of Sarah playing her violin or of Sparky racing on his scooter or fumbling as a maître d’. Daughter “Gigglepot” Holly and son “Blue Eyed Boy” Luke have their moments, too. Mollydooker also created labels that are written sideways so shoppers have to turn the bottles horizontally to read them. Small, perforated informational tabs can be torn off the back labels to make it easier to find the wine again.

Among the other Australians in the vanguard of the eye-catching label craze is Wayne Anderson, owner and winemaker of Killibinbin (from an Aboriginal word meaning “to shine”). “My old, plain, simple labels were getting lost on the shelves,” Anderson says. “It was time for a change, so I figured I might as well do something completely different, something that doesn’t look like a conventional wine label at all.” After he opted for shocking images that resemble horror-movie posters, with women screaming and a man being choked, business—and buzz—picked up. Sales in Australia doubled, and in the U.S. his wines sold twice as fast. Killibinbin went from producing 400 cases a year in 1997 to 5,000 cases currently.

Aussie winemaker Some Young Punks also went for the dramatic, choosing seedy pulp-paperback-cover–style images for its labels, depicting young women in various states of undress. The wines are called Quickie, Naked on Roller Skates, The Fire in Her Eyes, and Passion Has Red Lips. “We need you to see us,” its website explains, “and we don’t have lineage, or tithe—not even a family crest to take up the paper on the glass.”

Clark Smith has a day job at Vinovation, a wine-production consulting firm in Sonoma Valley, California, coaching 1,200 winemakers. He also crafts wines for two of his own labels, WineSmith and CheapSkate. He thinks packaging should tell consumers what to expect, ensure that they remember the wine, and endear the product to them. “We use whimsy,” he says. “CheapSkate—they’re gonna remember that. And the labels [convey] that you can get really high-quality wine that’s not famous for a cheap price.”