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News & Reviews

Bears on the Label Doesn't Imply Critter
June 27, 2007


Reno Gazette-Journal
The folks at 4 Bears wine have a request: Please don't call us a "critter label."
That term is industry pejorative for wines, a la Yellow Tail and Monkey Bay, whose labels exploit consumer attraction to cute critters (and never mind, sometimes, about the quality of what's inside).


The bears in 4 Bears are the children of founder and owner Sean Minor; in the Minor family version of the Goldilocks fairy tale, a favoritey of daughter Elle, there are four bears, not three. And instead of gamboling ursines, the 4 Bears label depicts the children's first initials.


"There was plenty of opportunity not to use the name 4 Bears, but it's a family story, and the kids love being a part of it," Minor said when I caught up with him recently at Jazmine restaurant and sushi bar in south Reno. "You've heard the phrase critter label? That's not what this is about. This wine wasn't conceived behind the marketing desk."











The Minor Family

In August 2007, she had a C-section, and though she worried about complications, Monica delivered a healthy baby girl. But hours after Sofia was born, Monica began running a fever. No one was concerned at first -- Monica figured it was just hormones -- but three days later the fever hadn't broken, and Monica's abdomen was swollen and painful. iReport.com: What do you think about this story? Sound off on video

The doctors at Monica's hospital thought she might be infected with a deadly strain of bacteria. They flew her to a hospital in Boston where she was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, also known as flesh-eating bacteria.

Defying the odds, Monica survived, but many of her organs didn't. The doctors removed Monica's uterus, ovaries, gallbladder and part of her colon that same day.