Back in the spring of 2006, we took an overdue vacation (aren't they all?) and spent a week visiting selected wineries in California's Sonoma and Russian Rivery Valley regions. One winery that paticularly fascinated us was the Imagery winery in Healdsburg. Each year Imageryy commissions an artist for a work of art that will be incorporated into a wine label. Visitors to the winery may stroll trhough the gallery section and view the originial artworks as well as the bottled wine bearing the finished labels.

It was all so interesting and led us to ponder how we might tweak the concept to make it our own and utilize it at Glorie Farm Winery. The result is our Wine Label Art Contest which we conducted in 2006 for Jumpin Jazz wine. We had a big unveiling of the artwork, the label, the winner, and the wine in July 2007. We're planning to finetune it just a bit more and then repeat it with a different wine and a different charity in 2008 and hopefully annually after that.

In a nutshell, this is how it works: We announce the name of a wine; then, using the wine name for inspiration, artists create something wonderful and submit it for consideration. We select the winning entry, develop the label around it and then schedule an unveiling here at Glorie Farm Winery. A silent auction is held and when it ends, the high bidder takes the artwork home and the proceeds are given to charity. That's the Jumpin Jazz winning artist Brandi Budziak with Doug and MaryEllen in the photo. The Jumpin Jazz contest resulted in a $235 donation to the Animal Rescue Foundation in Beacon, NY.

We think wine, art, people, and charity make a great combination. It's inexpensive for people to participate and it's fun. If you have any artistic talent, please consider reading further and joining this year's contest.