Log Haven Wine Labels

Log Haven, a restaurant in a 1920 log cabin up Millcreek Canyon in Utah, pours its own red blends, made and bottled by Longoria Wines in California. Since 2015 I’ve taken each new label from idea to bottling line: the art direction, the production files, the approval, the printing and the delivery, on time for bottling.

1. Start from Log Haven’s direction.Log Haven names each vintage and gives the direction for the copy, and its team writes the back-label text.
2. Direct the illustration.The cabin and mountains come from the Log Haven logo, drawn by another artist. Each vintage, I bring in illustrator Missy Van Wagoner to adapt that scene for the front label. She added the pond and gives each vintage its own character: swans for Cygnet, a mountain biker for Pipeline, a dog for Dog Lake, a hiker for Grandeur and a moose for Mt. Aire. We talk through the direction, and she makes it her own.
3. Build the production files.Once Missy’s front illustration is ready, I set the type over it, the name, region and vintage, and build the front and back labels as print-ready files, with the back carrying the winery’s story and the information the law requires.
4. Get the label approved.Every wine label needs federal approval, a COLA from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), before it can go on a bottle. I set up the files and the required wording for each submission.
5. Print and deliver.The labels are printed in California and shipped to Longoria Wines for bottling. I set up the label specs, get pricing, and manage the print run and the shipping. The same printer has done every run, with no issues.
6. Be patient.Approval and printing both take time, so each vintage is planned back from the bottling date.

Every front keeps the same mountain scene and frame, so the series reads as one family on a shelf. What changes is the character and the name of each vintage.

Four color studies for the Dog Lake dog. The brown one went to print.