Studies show that Americans buy a new wine they haven’t tried before when an animal is on a wine label, twice as frequently as the non-creature label competitors.

From dancing bulls to leaping frogs, black swans to roaming goats, a veritable zoo of animals appears on wine labels today. Indeed, some credit the popularity of “critter labels” with the success of the affordable Australian Yellow Tail brand introduced here in 2001.

Although it seems novel, the fixation with critter labels isn’t new. In 1981, the name Frog’s Leap was chosen “to deflate the pretension of wine.” Designer Chuck House created the Frog’s Leap label for a couple hundred bucks and a few cases of wine. That same year, the label was awarded the Design of Excellence award from the American Institute of Graphic Arts. His beloved leaping frog logo is now part of the permanent collection in the Smithsonian.

Margaret and Dan Duckhorn co-founded Duckhorn Wine Company, which began with a traditional sketched duck on its label. Now its sister winery, Paraduxx, commissions artists to create original paintings depicting a beautiful pair of ducks for its label. Why animals? Duckhorn explains that unlike a label with lots of words, the animal catches the eye. This makes sense, because you’ll be more likely to recall it when you shop for wine again. With so many animals in the world, wineries will likely never run out of mascots.

In 2000, Rancho Zabaco introduced a delicious “wow” value Zinfandel with a new dynamic label of a charging bull image to display its Mexican heritage. According to Rancho Zabaco, this change helped sales shoot up a whopping 135 percent.

Inspiration for the Toad Hollow wine label came from founder Todd Williams’ nickname, “Toad.” Although the various labels of walking, talking, wine-sipping toads are whimsical, there’s serious wine inside.

Need help figuring out the flavors of specific bottles and the foods to pair them with? Well, the label won’t really help you. But it may be enough to get you to at least try the wine inside.

Tags: chuck house, dan duckhorn, duckhorn wine, frogs leap wine, margaret duckhorn, paraduxx, rancho zabaco, toad hollow wine, todd williams, wine label, yellow tail wine, zinfandel