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This label for Summerhill Pyramid Winery's Cipes Gabriel sparkling wine won silver in the domestic cateogory of the B.C. Wine Label Awards.
With wine store shelves stocked full with hundreds of vintages clamouring for attention, the labels wineries put on their bottles can go a long way towards determining which ones get taken up to the till.
“The challenge is to get the consumer interested in your product,” said Steve Cipes, owner of Kelowna’s Summerhill Pyramid Winery, which scored a silver in the domestic label category of the 2009 British Columbia Wine Label Awards during this past weekend’s wine festival wrap-up.
The award was for Summerhill’s Cipes Gabriel sparkling wine.
“We’re very proud,” said Cipes. He credited the work of Westbank artist Helen Menges for incorporating a winged angel into the Cipes logo.
Cipes noted the importance of labels by citing market research related to peanut butter, which found that a customer who picks a jar of peanut butter up off a supermarket shelf to look at it was likely to buy it 87 per cent of the time. The trick is getting their attention.
“It’s a challenge to put a message in such a small space,” said Cipes.
He added he hopes to do well in next year’s competition when the labels for six of his new organic wines, featuring work by renowned Canadian artist Robert Bateman, will be in the running.
“He’s our national treasure artist,” said Cipes.
It will be the first time Bateman has allowed his art to be used for a commercial product and $1 from the sale of every bottle will go towards his Get to Know Your Wild Neighbours program, which aims to get young Canadians spending more time outdoors.
“They’re all a little different,” said Cipes of the Bateman labels. “We try to be creative.”
The label awards are handed out by the B.C. Wine Museum in Kelowna. Criteria for each category looked at such things as the visual appeal of a label, creativity, label content, and even the legibility of label text. All entries were also entered into the People’s Choice category and put on display at the BC Wine Museum for public voting.
This year’s judges were: John Schreiner, author and wine columnist; Stewart Turcotte, owner of Hambleton Galleries; and Lisa Olson, editor and publisher of Orchard & Vine Magazine.
The 2009 BC Wine Label Award Winners are:
Domestic Label:
GOLD Chandra Estate 2004 Pinot Blanc (Oliver)
SILVER Summerhill Cipes Gabriel (Kelowna)
BRONZE Muse 2006 Cabernet Merlot (North Saanich)
Overall Presentation:
GOLD Thornhaven Trinity 2008 (Summerland)
SILVER Sumac Ridge Tribute (Summerland)
BRONZE 2008 Paradise Ranch Riesling Icewine (Vancouver)
Dessert Wine:
GOLD Thornhaven Diosa 2008 (Summerland)
SILVER Tinhorn Creek Kerner Late Harvest 2008 (Oliver)
BRONZE See Ya Later Ranch Ehrenfelser Icewine (Okanagan Falls)
People’s Choice:
GOLD Dirty Laundry Bordello 2007 (Summerland)
SILVER Ruby Tuesday Shiraz 2007 (Penticton)
BRONZE Road 13 Sparkling Chenin Blanc 2006 (Oliver)
adrian@kelowna.com
250-575-3517
Tags: cipes, Kelowna, Okanagan Wine festival, Summerhill Pyramid Winery
