Vintner's Journal

Obviously, we had a few ideas on what we liked in wine labels: simple, elegant, something that stood out but wasn't too flashy. We went to some wine stores and bought wines with labels or bottles we admired. (This was an expensive process but I, never one to shirk my responsibilities or pass up the opportunity to try new wines, bravely endured this step.)

Next, a designer needed to be chosen. Sasha hoped I’d be able to do it – it’s obvious from how great this website is that I have some talent in the design arena – yeah, right – but I was to quickly lose hope that we could save money and do it ourselves. The sky’s the limit on the price of designing a label. Big names with grand ideas can run into six figures. Luckily, our winemaker Cary Gott turned us on to a very talented young designer named Tina Ficarra. (Send me an email if you wish to get in touch with Tina.) Anyway, after meeting with Tina, we were not only convinced she had the talent, but also the temperament to work with us on this highly personal project.

One of our first choices was a bottle. Bottle shape and weight are big factors in label design as well as in determining the final production and shipping costs. Glass is sold by weight, so not only do some wineries’ huge bottles drive up costs, they also cause you to have to pay more for shipping. That being said, we did choose a bottle with what we considered medium heft and that felt great in our hand: the Sommeliere Brodeaux series from Demptos Glass.

Work with Tina started out with an interview – her with us, and us with her. We told her our initial thoughts on the label and generally just told her our story. We had already named Butterdragon Hill so the idea of butterflies, dragonflies, or a combination was quickly in the mix. We also own a lovely painting (one of our favorites) by an artist named Gaylord Soli that we thought could influence the design. The “Match” name with its numerous connotations as well as the original meaning (the Russian word for “sword”) also offered some ideas. In fact, a Russian influence seemed to tie in nicely with Sasha’s Russian-Jewish heritage as well as my background as a Russian linguist. Another idea was something in the style of the paintings of Marc Chagall or the poster art of David Lance Goines.

Tina prepared several proofs for us to try out. We spent many days with mock-ups of our bottle choice, filled with Two-Buck Chuck, with potential labels taped on. The idea was we kept the bottles around the house and determined how a particular label made us feel and looked from various angles and distances.

Well, we thought we were near the end of the process. We were very pleased with the direction the design had taken and were meeting for a final time with Tina and Cary Gott to nail down colors. Towards the end of the meeting, Tina asked Cary if she should show “it” to us – a design based on some of our original ideas but definitely in a different direction. Cary nodded and when Tina pulled out the mock-up bottle, both Sasha and I knew that we’d found our label. There were still colors to be chosen, but we were on our way.

While Tina was a joy to work with, printing was a real challenge. It was news to us that while the printers would proof our label on printing day, no large changes would be possible following the press check. It was difficult getting the embossing, registration, and the colors to come out right. Did you know it’s tough to get a true red? We also envisioned having a luminescence in the blue of the dragonfly’s wings similar to that of a real dragonfly in the sunlight. That was an effect difficult to reproduce with ink. The pressmen worked hard though and we ended up with a label that looked fantastic. We hope you agree.

Here are a few of the designs that didn't make it.

One design direction tried to capture the romance of a good "match" along with matches in antique playing cards.

Or a combination of dragons and butterflies?

We pushed very hard in the direction based on a painting by Gaylord Soli: