There is much I could say about The Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and their archaic and occasionally tyrannical rules on alcohol advertising and the art of labeling. Let’s not even get into the fact that they are now allowed to open the stores on Sundays. But . . . where are the open stores on Sundays?

But that’s another discussion. Let’s instead talk about the enlightened Brainiacs in the ABC offices of the great state and sweet home of Alabama.

Seems they don’t like this wine label:

And so they’ve banned the wine from being sold in the state — despite the history of art and freedom the original poster embodies:

About Cycles Gladiator

Americans then might have been shocked by the thought of a woman wearing pantaloons or bloomers pedaling a bicycle, but the French understood what sold products—thus the ‘uninhibited’ appearance of the Cycles Gladiator advertising poster.

Cycles Gladiator symbolizes a celebration of the freedom and happiness that pervaded Europe in the late 19th century—an era known as the Belle Epoque. This era marked many notable inventions and improvements to daily life, not the least of which was the modern bicycle or Le Bicycle Velocipede.

Started in Paris in 1891 by Alexandre Darracq (an eccentric, who would later become famous for manufacturing automobiles), Gladiator was one of the dozens of bicycle companies that saturated the market when the cycling craze boomed. The Golden Age of cycling reached its pinnacle in 1895—and that same year printer G. Massias unveiled one of the great Parisian advertising posters. Only four of these original posters exist today.

The famed artwork that once showcased the stylish Cycles Gladiator now graces the bottles of our classic wines from California’s Central Coast. The mythological image of the nymph riding her winged bicycle captures the grace and uninhibited beauty of our hillside vineyards. From the winery’s website

Have the ABC boards even read the First Amendment?

114 years later, it seems that some people in some states simply need to evolve. Or has evolution been banned in Alabama, too?