On April 14, 2010 Young’s Vineyard, in Amador County, California, released their new wines at a large two-day party on the beautiful vineyard grounds. Delicious food was served, music played, and wine tasted as people chatted and enjoyed the warm weekend weather.
Here I am signing one of the wine labels at Young's Release Party.
I was so pleased to be the new artist for the six different wine labels. Â I deviated from the Arabian Knights theme on only one label… a mermaid for the white wine, Jour D’Ete .
When I had finished painting the label designs, vineyard owner, Annette Young and her team, wine-maker Nancy Steel, and vineyard manager, Kelly Hernandez, picked out which image would go with each wine.  I know very little about wine, so tasting and listening to these women talk wine-talk was interesting and enlightening.
Seeing a project come to fruition is always so exciting.
For each label design I used a female model or combination of models, costumes either created by the model or researched and modified in multiple drawings. Â My models are friends and acquaintances who have graciously agreed to be photographed and painted. My drawings and watercolor paintings were 4″ x 16″ in the long narrow format unique to Young’s previous wines.
Zinfandel poster
The Zinfandel was my favorite wine, but I found that each person I talked with had their own preference. Â It was fun to hear the party-goers discussing which label was their favorite as well.
Photos by Bill LaVallie
My heartfelt thanks to my friend, Beth Hartline for moral support and photos, Bill LaVallie for professional photography… and to Annette Young, vineyard owner, Nancy Steel and Kelly Hernandez for being so much fun to work with.
To see more photos go to Bill LaVallie’s website, look for Galleries and click on Young’s Winery Release Party 4/24/10. Â http://lavallie.smugmug.com