According to Lorraine Szczepinksi, vineyard operations and events coordinator, winery staff decided that the best way to choose a label for their products was to let consumers decide. Visitors to last summers Art on the Mountain were asked to vote on their favorite potential label. “We thought it would be better to have the consumer choose, since they’re the ones who ultimately buy the product,” says Szczepinksi. “ We love opinions.” With 15 local artists in the competition, and hundreds of ballots cast, Coleman’s pastel work won first place and a spot on the bottles of the winery’s 2005 Chardonnay, while McGrath’s oil painting, in second place, will grace the bottles of all 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon bottles.

According to Szczepinksi, using Vermont artists on the bottles will make them even more of a Vermont product, a nice gift, and create some advertising for the artists. ”We would like to feature a different Vermont artist on each wine, and we’ll put the bio of the artist on the side.”

McGrath’s inspiration came about through the blending of two separate but similar projects, as he was asked to create something for Memorial Hall’s garden walk, and he was interested in submitted a piece to the winery as well. “ I was kind of going on a gardeny, grapey theme,” says McGrath who said he inserted a tricky letter “H” into the work.

Coleman, who said she created four different potential labels, first took a picture of the vineyard scene, and then created both full-size and label-size interpretations of them, focusing on achieving vivid color.

“There are so many Vermont artists out there that nobody even knows about, and why not give them the exposure,” says Szczepinksi of one of the reasons the winery will continue to accept local art work for their wine labels. The deadline for the winery’s next Vermont Artist label series is September 1, 2007, and there have already been some submissions, according to Szczepinksi.

“(Honora) is trying their best to promote the arts,” says McGrath who noted that he has only good things to say about the winery fir their support of the town. “I’m excited about anything this town does nowadays to promote our town.” He said of the event, “It’s not about making money, it’s about exposure.”

Coleman plans to bring several prints and a few new pieces to the event, while McGrath intends to display several oil landscapes.

“We’re celebrating Vermont artists. It’s just going to be a lot of fun,” said Szczepinksi.