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Josh Wine. Credit: Mashable composite / Shutterstock / Cameramannz, gresei
They say don't judge a book by its cover, but there's no such saying for wine and its label. So maybe you can judge Josh wine. Yes. Josh wine.
Josh. Wine.
Josh Wine, to be clear, is not the name of an Eastern Kentucky University quarterback from the early 2000s. It's also not a comedian's stage name from the '50s. It is an actual brand. And it's been the subject of viral memes for the past couple of days.
It started with a guy on Twitter with the username @OptimusGrind (sick) who wrote, "I’m not gonna keep telling y’all to grow up and leave that Stella & Barefoot alone" (sicker) while posting a photo holding a bottle of Josh wine merlot (sickest).
Tweet may have been deletedNotice on the bottle that it says Josh Cellars. Contrary to popular belief, this is not the name of a rom-com actor once hopefully and falsely dubbed "the next James Van Der Beek." It's the name of the brand. But among a certain circle of extremely online connoisseurs, it's more commonly referred to as Josh wine. And the jokes have been fantastic.
Initially, some laughed at the name because Josh Cellars or Josh wine is a patently ridiculous name for a brand. It just is. I love it. But it's silly. It's tremendously silly.
There were also folks poking fun at the original poster for talking down to people who buy Barefoot when he's touting Josh Cellars. Because, you know, how good can Josh wine be? For context, that normal-sized bottle of Josh (lmao bottle of Josh) goes for about $15, while a jug of Barefoot will run you $12. @OptimusGrind might've had a point on the quality difference between the respective vinos, but the memes persisted. And to be honest, the jokes were good.
Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deletedThe Josh wine discourse has been going steady through Friday. Frankly, it's a welcome relief. For one, it's hilarious to post about wanting a glass of that Josh. But the memes are also an artifact of what Twitter once was. The site has become progressively less fun since around 2016 before taking a steep dive into the Elon Musk/X era. What was once a site for dumb jokes and memes — alongside news — become a cesspool for derision, anger, and bad headlines. It has become infrequent we can get together and make dumbass jokes about something silly, like Josh Cellars.
In fact, to that end, it took about a week for the Josh wine meme to catch on because, well, fun, silly things just don't happen that often on X / Twitter anymore.
So you know what? It's Friday. I've had a long week. Somebody give me a strong pour of the Josh. You know what? Get yourself a chalice of that Josh, pull up some memes, and have a laugh on Twitter for once. We've earned it.
Tim Marcin is a culture reporter at Mashable, where he writes about food, fitness, weird stuff on the internet, and, well, just about anything else. You can find him posting endlessly about Buffalo wings on Twitter at @timmarcin.
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