Etched Images

Music Sometimes it's very chilly. Other times it's almost hot. You never know what's coming next. Just last March I was in a local tasting room doing some important research about the effects of alcohol on mammals. As I wandered the tasting room, maintaining my dosage, what suddenly caught my eye were these big 3-liter commemorative bottles that were etched in hand painting. The label design had been etched right into the glass and then thick painted colors applied and they were fantastic to look at. Now one hand I'm a photographer and I really wanted to light these things up and show how good they could look. To begin a photograph with a beautiful object rather than a mundane one is a total gift. On the other hand I'm a wine collector and I thought, wow, if you're putting away a special bottle for one of life's big moments, maybe a 50th anniversary or maybe your kid's 21st birthday, what can I say to open one of these beauties after looking at it for 20 years would be a peak vino momento. And when it's empty, still beautiful, still valuable. I found out eventually that you can even have them treated afterwards to look unopened. Sweet. So I was wowed two ways by these big bottles. But I was also wondering why I had never been given the chance to buy one and I bought a lot of wine just to ask my wife. Remembering back I thought I'd seen a few of them over the years, but why so few? Where were they coming from? Where were they going? Who got to take these beauties home It was all a big mystery. I don't know how these things happen to me, but they do. A couple of weeks later I joined Open Wine Consorti Stu McFarland, the guy who had made the bottles. Stu runs etched images over in Napa and what he does there is to create fine art enclosures for great wines and they're super collectible. I asked for a tour and he said sure, bring your camera and I did. Smart guy, Stu. What I found in a quiet little corner of Napa was a small studio climate controlled to protect the wine. It was full of talented artists all up to their earbuds and colorful paint and dipping wax. The level of concentration and dedication to perfection was obvious. I saw bottles there in the lobby from wineries I had no idea were having these things made. Other bottles were dedicated to corporate or sporting events, weddings, clubs, other things. I decided to interview some wineries to find out how they used them, where they were disappearing to and why I didn't have any in my cellar. We discovered these etched bottles several years ago and they have been increasingly popular for us. We put a lot of effort into making our wines the very best that we can make them. That starts in the vineyard, the way we cultivate, the way we treat our vineyards in an organic fashion. All of our wines are organic. It's the way we make the wine and it's the way we present the wine. Having our wine in a beautiful bottle is really part of all that effort. It says to the person who is serving our wine at their table that this is something special. I love the idea that the folks who buy our wines and collect our wines and our wine club members appreciate all the effort and attention that we put into what's inside the bottle. I'm also very aware that they appreciate how the bottle looks because folks who create cellars with wines love to share the cellars too and it helps when the bottles are really beautiful. So I think that's been a real benefit to our wine club, that we can make available to our members these wines in lovely large formats. We've also had some bottles made that have pictures of babies on them and that's been really fun to give away because we know that those are bottles that are going to be cherished for many, many years. For some wineries, the labels themselves have deep significance. The story of the bike is a little different than every other wine story. It was a journey really that my dad and I took into wine country. It started over 10 years ago. He passed away about three months before we actually purchased the winery. So the bike was actually one of the last gifts he gave to me. So really the bike represents the whole package. It represents the story of how we came to be. It represents the story of what's in the bottle and it represents the experience that we hope all our visitors and family take away from their visit with us. So these are two of our etched bottles. We do 9,000 cases. So when we do an etched bottle, it's very special, very small production. There's only 12 bottles done of each Cabernet. That's a total of 36 bottles. So not everybody can have them. Not everybody wants them. And we certainly don't want everybody and their mother to have them. They're special. They're unique. They're collector's pieces. People buy them for their children's weddings. They're 50th wedding anniversary. They enjoy the wine, which is first and foremost for us. But they're able to have a special piece of art to keep as a cherished momento for the rest of their lives. Those are why we create etched bottles. To showcase the wine, showcase the memories and the whole experience for our customers. It's not solely about selling wine. It'selling memories, selling experiences. And those things are invaluable to us. So, not counting the bottles made to promote corporate or personal events, most of the bottles were going to long-standing wine club members. I guess I've been focused on allocation lists for so long that I hadn'thought much about wine clubs. I'm going to need a very special bottle to celebrate my 100th birthday. For Russian River TV, this is Bob Barkley.