Sure, what’s inside the bottle may be the most important part of winemaking, but the presentation of your homemade wines tells others that your wine is important to you, that you’ve spent time on it, and are proud of the contents. The label, like gift-wrap on a present, is the first impression others will take from your wines, and as such, they are an important piece to the winemaking hobby. For that reason, once a year we dedicate this space to something other than techniques for pressing, fermenting, and aging, and instead highlight your artistic side.
This year, from the dozens of entries we received at the WineMaker offices, we picked our top four — an out of this world Cabernet, a label that pieces together two hobbies, one that gets our spidey sense tingling, and a unique label for a unique late harvest wine. Plus, we let you, the reader, choose your favorite for the Reader’s Choice Award based on voting at our Facebook page.
Thank you to all of our readers who submitted labels into this year’s label contest, and the generous sponsors who donated such great prizes!
GRAND
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
READER’S CHOICE
Honorable Mention
Gold Medal Winners Joan Huff Louisville, Kentucky Joan won honorable mention in last year’s contest with a similarly colorful label. She and her husband ordered some Muscat grapes from California and things went downhill from there. Everything imaginable went wrong. Joan’s husband wanted to pour it down the driveway or use it to fertilize the plants but Joan wouldn’t give up on it. She kept adding things until it started to taste…
My hobby may be winemaking, but by day I am a commercial artist. I use house paint on a daily basis at my job, so when I have the opportunity to create artwork at home I don’t spend that obscene amount of money at art supply stores — I do all of my shopping at the local hardware store. To combine my two interests, I also design the wine labels for our…
