Wine Labels
"If you're gonna make the wine, you've gotta make the label...."
I know there are programs out there for making wine labels, but I've never found the need
for one. My labels, for the most part, are simple and to the point. They say everything
I need or want them to say, and they say it simply. The example above is such a label.
Another Mustang grape wine, this was juiced and fermented as a white that was cold stabilized
and aged with Mesquite wood. It was a very good wine.
If I want the label to say more, I just say it. The two labels above are for a Port wine I
made in 2004. I could not decide which label I liked best, so bottled half with one label
and half with the other. Note the residual Brix, stated just after the alcohol percentage.
The point is that the label can convey whatever one wants it to convey.
This one's colored label is easy to spot in the wine rack.
I experiment with images and color to find a balance I like. I really do like simplicity.
The label above is simple but attractive. The wine was excellent.
This is a cooking wine that can also be used to tenderize meats. The label is really for
the benefit of recipients of the wine as gifts. A novelty wine, it always attracts attention
at competitions and collective homemade wine tastings.
This label is for a blend of rosehip and rose petal wines which were fermented to 17.6%
alcohol level and sweetened with simple syrup, reducing the alcohol to 17% by volume.
The label was designed to be light, like the wine itself -- despite the high alcohol.
I used to make my text-only labels in Microsoft's Word for Windows. I've made some really
fancy ones containing both scanned and hand-drawn images using Xerox's Ventura Publisher.
Today, I mostly use Microsoft's Paintbrush, Corel's Corel Draw and Microsoft's Image
Composer. Labels produced with these programs are then printed. For display here they
were converted into .gif a or .jpg files. These programs are easy to use and create files
that are easily edited. The large collection of fonts delivered with Corel Draw can be used
by any of these programs and expand the variety one can create. However, you can use
whatever graphics or word processing program you're comfortable with.
The labels I make vary in size and are printed two or four to a page and trimmed with a
drop-blade paper cutter. I use either glue sticks or a spray-on adhesive to affix them to
the bottles. I've used self-adhesive label paper and found it not really worth the added
expense, and they are somewhat difficult to later remove when reusing the bottles.
These labels are for a 3-gallon batch of dandelion. The size (4 x 2.5 inches) fits a LASERRUN
label I found, laid out 8 labels to a sheet. I used Microsoft's Word for Windows to set up
a 2-column page, onto which I inserted the images. The black-background label was for clear
bottles; the transparent background prints out white and looked good on yellow/amber bottles.
This label (Black Currant Wine) was set up as the previous two and printed eight to a page
on peel-off labels. Easy to apply, but a pain to remove when you want to reuse the bottle.
The Tulip Wine label is slightly smaller than the Dandelion and Black Currant labels, but
printed out the same way on slightly smaller label designed for the laser printer.
Rambutan is indigenous to the Malay Archipelago and today is cultivated all over south and
southeast Asia. Its thin, leathery rind is covered with 1/5 to 3/4 inch long tubercles which
are quite soft. Inside is a white, translucent, juicy, sweet flesh surrounding an oblong seed.
Having eaten this fruit in Thailand, I looked for it in U.S. markets for many years without
success. When I found the canned fruit on the net, I ordered four pounds and made this wine.
If you use a program specifically designed for wine or beer labels, I'd like to hear about
it. Also, if you'd like to send me scanned copies or graphic files (.bmp, .gif, etc.) of the
labels you've made, I'd love to see them. Just attach them to an email and I'll take a look.
Last update was April 2nd, 2005.