Label Tutorial Challenge-Ramona

[grapeman]

This is the spot whereRamona will present her Tutorial on creating a label from inspiration through complete label. With the holidays on us it may take a while to complete. She will let you know what software she uses so if you need an idea for a Chrismas present......... consider getting yourself her software. Have fun. Thank youRamona for participating and let the fun begin!

So without further ado here it is.


My choice for varietal is St. Pepin grape. I purposely chose this one so no one would have preconceived notions of what the label should depict.Here is a basic description of the variety and what can be expected from that wine. Just assume ABV of 13%.


Some of the following is from the Appelation America website
<H1>Varietal Character</H1>

</A> St. Pepin
You are all part of a band of native and French-American crosses that could easily be called the ‘Polar Bear Gang’. A lot of you are from Minnesota, and you’ve been bred to be tough and hardy. Many of your parents were imprisoned in labs for so long that they go by their identification numbers, rather than their names. Frontenac, otherwise known as the ‘heavy producer’, is the latest to join your gang. People of the northern states are glad that you now control the flow of wine. In the frigid northern winters, weak-limbed vines all too often never deliver.<BR clear=all>
<DIV ="h1-left2">
<H1>Appellations Growing St. Pepin Grapes</H1>


Appellations producing the most St. Pepin wines:
<UL style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5px">
<TABLE id=appellationList style="WIDTH: 540px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 ="smText"><T><T><T>
<T>
<TR>
<TD style="WIDTH: 50%">
<LI style="COLOR: #808080">Minnesota (State Appellation) </LI></TD>
<TD style="WIDTH: 50%">
<LI style="COLOR: #808080">Hudson River Region (AVA) </LI></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="WIDTH: 50%">
<LI style="COLOR: #808080">Quebec (Provincial Appellation) </LI></TD>
<TD style="WIDTH: 50%">
<LI style="COLOR: #808080">Illinois (State Appellation) </LI></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="WIDTH: 50%">
<LI style="COLOR: #808080">West Virginia (State Appellation) </LI></TD>
<TD style="WIDTH: 50%">
<LI style="COLOR: #808080">Lake Wisconsin (AVA) </LI></TD></TR></T></T></T></T></TABLE>[/list]



<DIV ="h1-left2">
<H1>St. Pepin Grape Details</H1>


St. Pepin is a sister seedling of LaCrosse, which was also developed by Elmer Swenson. However, the similarly cold-hardy St. Pepin is a fruitier and earlier-ripening grape, which makes one of the best white wines in Minnesota. It is also used for juice. The grape is being grown experimentally in South Dakota and in other cold winter states.




Excellent wines have been made from St. Pepin as a varietal and also blended with LaCrosse. When well ripened, fruit quality is similar to Reisling. Selected by Elmer Swenson.
Crisp flavors from adequate acids with a hint of apricot, pineapple, apple, and pear aromas, off-dry with a medium body; similar to Sauvignon Blanc.




Let's use an appropriate fictitious winery for this variety.
Polar Epress Winery




So now the challenge is for you to develop a nice label anyone would be proud to display.

 

[rgecaprock]

I am at work and should be working but after reading Richard's introduction to St. Pepin wine......my minds wheels are turning.
So I will begin by telling you my what comes to my mind for this label and with any label I've made I seem to begin the process this way:


It usually starts with just an overall feeling, something about the wine ie. type of juice, where it comes from. example: The South African Chenin Blanc gave me an impression of the climate and the animals of Africa so I decided to use Zebras as my subject.


Since seeing that St. Pepin grapes are grown in my homestate of W.Va. this is my starting point for an idea.


So this is a start....will be back soon. Ask me any questions along the way!!Edited by: rgecaprock

 

[NorthernWinos]

Ramona...you don't like the looks of the people from Minnesota for on your label????

 

[rgecaprock]

NW


They are better lookin than those Hillbilliesfrom WVa....lol


Which makes me think......do I make it funny or serious?




RamonaEdited by: rgecaprock

 

[Jack on Rainy]

Appleman,
You setting for this tutorial is close to my heart! Frontenac is the town on the St. Croix river where my Swedish immigrant great grandparents landed to homestead! And Pepin isa large bulge(lake) in the Mississippi river just downstream from Red Wing MNnamed after the explorer Pepin. You don't suppose hebrought the grape too?


And Ramona! Make if funny if you want but I will be looking for some serious instruction. I need to learn how tomake my own lables. These post-its are falling off!Edited by: Jack on Rainy

 

[rgecaprock]

Jack,
My Dad uses post-its too.Until I made him some labels.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Guess St. Pepin needs many women to propagate...



<TABLE width=400><T><T><T>
<T>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top ="main">ST. PEPIN:
Patented Elmer Swenson propagated variety claimed as cold hardy to -20 deg. F. (ca -29 C.). Is close American hybrid sibling to La Crosse variety. Suitable for making fruity white wine claimed to have Riesling/Muscat character, or as a good tablegrape. Ripens early in season. It must be planted near other grape varieties, eg. Swenson (Red) or its sibling (above), or other varieties that flower in the same period because it is a female pollinate and so requires cross-pollination. The consensus ratio of pollinator/pollinatee is about 1 male to 8 female vines. Some trials are currently underway in S. Dakota and other moderately cold-winter States. </TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top>

</TD></TR></T></T></T></T></TABLE>

Edited By Appleman: I added this picture from my grapes this fall to compare to NW's post.
Pepin is also a town in Wisconcin as is La Crosse......where Elmer Swenson lived and bred his grapes.Edited by: appleman

 

[rgecaprock]

apple,


One thing I would like to do is change the winery name. I like to change the name at times to suit the label I have in mind. If that is a hard and fast rule I will go with it.....let me know.


Ramona

 

[grapeman]

I don't have a real problem with that Ramona. The goal here is to teach others about label making and if you can demonstrate that better with a different name- go for it. I will let Joan know of this since she says she isn't monitoring your post so she doesn't get influenced by your ideas. Be sure to let us know what you are doing and thinking as you go.

 

[Joanie]

Hehe.. I'm reading now that I know what I'm going to do.

Hi Ramona!!!

 

[rgecaprock]

I can start with one idea and before you know it....it becomes something entirely different. I've made a label based on the Polar Express Winery which makes me think of cold, winter, ice and snow. I used Art.com to search "winter" and found what I think is an interesting picture, more abstract than actual and manipulated into another version of the same picture. This label is fairly simple and I think I can show you the technique by printing the screen as I go along on PrintShop. Here is the label. I will show you the steps soon.
RamonaEdited by: rgecaprock

 

[NorthernWinos]

Ramona...Is Estate spelled wrong??? Or are my old eyes giving out???


P.S..like it!!!Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[rgecaprock]

No my eyes are giving out.....Thanks I'll fix it!!!!

 

[Joanie]

It's excellent as usual, Ramona!!!

 

[Wade E]

Great job Ramona and thanx for helping us out!

 

[jobe05]

Man.............. Watching you guys (Gals) make labels makes me realize just how much imagination I DON"T Have!

I love that "frozen" look to the whole label, the tree looks frigid which represents the the breaks and the fragil nature of the tree (also the wine).

I like it

 

[rgecaprock]

I want to show you step by step what I did but I don't know where to save the print screens of the process to a file that I can upload. Can anyone tell me how to do that? I did prtscrn then pasted in a word document but that's not seeming to work.


Ramona

 

[grapeman]

I think that is what Joan did. Try and PM her for help Ramona. I tried it and it seems to work fine, but the files are a bit too big to upload. See what Joan did to get around it.

 

[Joanie]

Ramona is having trouble getting screen shots small enough to post so she's sending them to me and I will post them for her.

Here's the opening page of PrintShop:

 

[Joanie]

From Ramona:

From here I choose a label size. It would be nice if it it gave the
label dimensions instead of the Avery label number but I really like
this size and I also use the 5164, a smaller one.