Charlie Hebdo Attack Took The Lives Of Three Of France's Most Extreme Wine Label Designers

The terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper headquarters has sent shockwaves throughout the world, and the five cartoonists who were slaughtered in the attack are being hailed as heroes and protectors of free speech. What many people don't know is that three of the slain cartoonists also created some of the most recognizable and outrageous wine labels in the entire country. The labels depict humorous, drunken, and often sexually explicit scenarios involving wine and grapes.

"They were my friends," Bordeaux winemaker Gérard Descrambe told Wine Spectator. "Their spirit was to laugh at everything and expose the biggest bullsh*t in the world. And they were killed by the biggest act of bullsh*t."

The cartoonists were part of an group of approximately 18 French artists who created 50 bawdy and explicit wine labels that appeared on Descrambe's St. Emilion wines and other wineries' bottles across France. Descrambe explained that he would still use the humorous labels for years to come, even after the atrocities that occurred on January 7.

"Humor is indispensable — it's what makes despair disappear," Descrambe told Wine Spectator.