Wine is a work of art. And all home winemakers want to present their work in the best possible manner. (It should be poured into a suitable wine glass, for starters.) In addition, many home winemakers want to present their works of art in the best possible manner visually as well. And sometimes, a bare bottle with a tag saying only “Cab Sauv #3, 2008,” or something similar, doesn’t do justice to the amount of creativity poured into the liquid gold.

For some lucky winemakers, their talent for liquid artistry is matched by their eye for visual art — and these winemakers take their pencils, paintbrushes or computers and create labels for their wines. Perhaps inspired by a few glasses of wine, these labels are sometimes artsy, sometimes cute, or sometimes funny.

Every year at WineMaker we — definitely aided by a few glasses of wine — examine and compare all the entries in our label contest. This year, we are pleased to present the winners of our 2010 label contest. So grab a glass, enjoy these labels and perhaps get inspired to spruce up Cab #3.