Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/138003
"We're a two-man show," said Carver, who also wears the hat of professional graphic designer. Big Table Farm's wine labels – handdesigned letterpress – are all her creations, and each is inspired by life on their farm. The labels are handmade in every sense. Cut by hand, each is made from thick printmaking paper that bears the impression of the press. "I basically invented a way to get the labels on the bottles with my printmaker," Carver said. Each label is hand-glued one at a time to the bottle, which is then wrapped in paper to protect the label. "It's a lot more expensive than traditional pressure-sensitive labels," she said. And time consuming. It took eight people (their friends helped) eight days to label Big Table Farm's 2,100 cases of the 2011 vintage. For Carver, the extra work is worth what the labels communicate. "They reflect the amount of labor in the wine," she said. The fun lies in the drawings, each of which represents a theme associated with one of the winery's vineyard-designated wines. The Resonance Vineyard Pinot Noir, for example, has featured a series of cows, including Carver's favorite, Josephine. Pigs Petunia and Rose grace the 2011 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. Each year there are new pigs to illustrate, as Carver also does all of the farm's butchering. The winery's Brooks Estate Vineyard Riesling always features mushrooms that Carver has found on her property's woodland. "Two years in a row I found chanterelles, so I did two different drawings of chanterelles," she said. The third year she found porcinis. This year her fingers are crossed for morels. Big Table Farm's labels tell a compelling story. But does that story sell wine? "It certainly helps at retail, but as with anything in marketing, it's a cumulative impact," Carver said. "Marketing is not a one-prong scenario. It's everything together. All of the wines have received great scores in the 90s. Brian has gotten good press, but w w w. v w m media.com Clare Carver, co-owner of Big Table Farm in Oregon, draws the charming illustrations for the winery's handcrafted labels. can we quantify our investment? I'm not that good at numbers. "What it does is make us feel really good about what we're offer- ing people and that's what it's all about. When I'm pouring our chardonnay that has my honeybees that I've been raising for four years on J u l y - A u g 2 0 13 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 81