It would appear that the rfc I referenced was outdated.

From rfc 1123.

Limiting domain labels to 63 characters would also appear to not be correct.

   2.1  Host Names and Numbers

      The syntax of a legal Internet host name was specified in
RFC-952 <http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc952.html>
      [DNS:4].  One aspect of host name syntax is hereby changed: the
      restriction on the first character is relaxed to allow either a
      letter or a digit.  Host software MUST support this more liberal
      syntax.

      Host software MUST handle host names of up to 63 characters and
      SHOULD handle host names of up to 255 characters.