The 2025 PACK Design Awards put the spotlight on the most innovative and creative labels in the industry — and this year, our work earned three award-winning spots on the podium!  1st Place – Best Classic Format Design: Jaws Wine Spritzer  1st Place – Best Series: Gnarly Head x Grateful Dead  3rd Place – Best Series: Jaws Collection These wins celebrate the design excellence and cooperation that go into every label. A huge thank-you to Delicato Family Wines and Fior di Sole for the collaboration — we’re excited to create even more standout projects together! 

Afternoon Brief, August 10th

Santa Barbara Commandeers and Destroys Illegally Submerged Wine Bottles; Perpetrators Accept Plea Deal: Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that, in accordance with a plea agreement, it destroyed 2,000 bottles of wine and other alcohol illegally possessed for sale in connection with an illegal underwater wine aging and sale operation...

Gnarly Head Wines and the Grateful Dead Release Limited Edition Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel with Glow-Under-Blacklight Labels

Second Vintage of Collaboration Features the Deads Iconic Dancing Bear and Lightning Bolt-Skull Motifs in Collectible Bottles that Come to Life

I’ve recently been receiving some wonderful feedback from designers with whom I’ve worked over many years, so I thought I’d share a few. Here’s one from Tony Auston, founder and creative director of Auston Design Group in Oakland, CA. Auston has designed labels and packaging for some of the region’s leading wine and spirits brands, including Dry Creek Vineyard, Gnarly Head, and Bogle Vineyards, among others.  He has worked with me for over 25 years and it has always been a pleasure to work with him. He is exceptional at creative design and respects the input of the bottle maker, which is crucial to get a project moving forward and across the finish line. Here’s Tony in his own words:             “Erica and I met in the early 1990s while I was working on the brand development and package design program for the former Carneros Alambic Distillery. She was the Brandy Maker at that time. Soon after that she ma

Afternoon Brief, June 16th

How Russia’s War on Ukraine Threatens Decades of Winemaking Progress: Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the war has caused incomprehensible losses: millions of displaced citizens, thousands of dead and wounded, as well as the destruction of untold buildings and houses, to say nothing of entire cities and towns...

Gnarly Head Wines and the Grateful Dead Announce Partnership to Launch Two Limited-Edition Gnarly Wines 

LODI, Calif., Jun. 16, 2022—Gnarly Head®, a producer of bold California wines from gnarly old vines, announced today a partnership with iconic American rock band, the Grateful Dead, to release […]