Is picking wine by the label bad? Maybe not
Don’t judge a book by its cover, the old adage says. But what about wine?
Arizona winemakers are increasingly getting rid of traditional labels with information about varietals and vineyards and using artwork to adorn their bottles instead.
Picture, for example, a can of Dos Cabezas Pink. The popular rosé, sold in bottles and carbonated in cans, features a painting of a soft pink rose on a parchment paper background. The front label doesn’t include the winery name or wine type. But the painting is by Leonard Bianco, father to world-famous pizza chef Chris Bianco.
Artists and winemakers creating labels together isn’t new, but Arizona winemakers from Chateau Tumbleweed to Rune Wines and Burning Tree Cellars are hopping on the trend.
A way to support local artists
Postino Wine Cafe recently featured local artist Carrie Marill’s artwork on a summer white wine called Fringe. The wine was produced and bottled by Arizona Stronghold Vineyards.
The growing local chain, which started in Phoenix and now has locations in Colorado and Texas, approached Marill with the opportunity to design a wine label as part of an effort to support local artists.
When a Postino buyer described the wine’s flavor profile, using the words “luscious,” “bright” and “apricot,” one
painting immediately popped into Marill’s mind. The painting, titled “The Shape of Myself” resembles a volcano and represents Marill’s view of her artistic production.
“There’s vibrancy and layers in that paining,” she says. “I often feel like a volcano of creativity with my output. I have so many ideas, so it’s a little of me poking fun at myself.”
Artistic labels can add value for customers
James Callahan, owner of Rune Wines in Sonoita, first started taking note of wine labels when working as a sommelier in 2005.
He remembers customers faces lighting up when they saw bottles with artistic labels, especially if it was also an expensive one. The artwork indicated a level of care and pride in the product resulting in perceived added value to the customer, he says.
“Wines that stood out, or that were breaking the mold, showed these people give a (expletive),” Callahan says. “Then when people buy it, they get a little more than just someone’s name.”
Rune wines, which are all single varietal, feature unique artwork on every varietal and vintage. The style of the heavily detailed, black-and-white drawings ties them together and each of the labels illustrates a chapter of a story Callahan is continuously expanding. So far, there are 60 unique pieces of art.
“Because we use grapes from all different vineyards, I wanted some cohesive way to bring all of the different Arizona sites into one coherent brand,” Callahan says.
Callahan works with Daniel Helzer, a graphic artist from Reno who he met after admiring his artwork online. When the two first started collaborating, Callahan would give detailed guidelines about what he envisioned.
“But now there’s a lot of artistic license,” Callahan says. “We’ve been working with each other for almost 10 years.”
‘Each wine has its own personality’
Burning Tree Cellars, an Arizona winemaker located in Cottonwood, has used artwork for its labels since the winery’s inception. In 2007, the first wine, a red blend named The Lotus, featured a tarot card design on the label.
For owners Mitch Levy and Corey Turnbull, the wine dictates the artwork.
“Each wine has its own personality,” Levy says. “So we wanted each label to have its own personality.”
In 2015 the winemakers created a Bordeaux blend Levy describes as “full bodied.” The dark red blend was dubbed The Duke, and its label features a portrait of a stately character decked out in a red coat and medals.
In 2017, the winemakers set out to create the next vintage of The Duke. Due to variances in the grapes and wine making process, the wine came out equally delicious, but much lighter bodied, Levy says.
It earned the name, El Delgado, “the thin one” in
Spanish, and the artwork on the bottle features the same coat and medals — but a skeleton takes the place of the duke.
Other Burning Tree wines have featured a painting of a matriarchal elephant, a collection of hummingbirds and photographs from the vineyard. Over the years, Burning Tree has become known for its stylized labels, the owner says.
“People know our labels and they know our wines,” Levy says. “We have artists reaching out to us all the time.”
Wineries can be too focused on aesthetics
While artists and designers might be eager to design decorative labels, Joel LaTondress cautions against picking a wine based on appearance alone. LaTondress runs Arcadia Premium, a boutique bottle shop, with his wife Lara Mulchay and hand selects each of the wines carried in store.
When a seller tries to promote a wine by talking about how nice the label is, LaTondress’ guard goes up.
“Certainly the labels are pretty but it’s an immediate red flag,” he says. “There’s a lot of wineries that are more focused on the aesthetic of the bottle than what’s in it.”
In fact, LaTondress sometimes favors wines with ugly labels. But he says he really doesn’t take the label into account at all when judging wines.
“Some of my favorite wines have labels that are absolute garbage,” he says. “But I’m more focused on what’s in the bottle.”
Shopping by appearance is certainly the easiest way to buy wine, LaTondress admits, and he doesn’t fault customers for it. Rarely, customers will get lucky and find a wine that’s both delicious and artfully decorated.
For example, he points to Rune’s grenache, a bottle he carries in the store.
“There’s unicorns out there,” LaTondress says. “But they are in the minority for sure.”