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36 WINES&VINES October 2018 Rodney Strong Clinches Best in Show Judges award two out of five gold medals to canned wines By Jim Gordon 2018 Winners: Wines & Vines Packaging Design Awards CODY GEHRET T rendy wine in cans took two of the five gold medals in the annual Packag- ing Design Awards, but a wine from Rodney Strong Wine Estates packaged in a traditional bottle with a screwcap and paper label won a gold medal in the Classic Format category and the Best in Show honors. Upshot is the name of the Best in Show winner, and it impressed the panel of indepen- dent judges, largely with its intricate and detailed label that told the whole story of the wine from the 2015 harvest to the 2017 release date via a circular calendar. The other gold medal-winning wineries selected by the judges in the fifth annual awards competition created by Wines & Vines were Wine by Joe for Alternative Format, Hedgeline Vineyards for Package Redesign, Nomadica Wine for Package Series Design and Liquid Farm Winery for Luxury Package Design. Attendees at the Wines & Vines Packaging Conference Aug. 9 chose the People's Choice award winner by viewing a display of 50 finalists and voting for their favorites. The winner was the Final Cut wine by Francis Ford Coppola, which has a dramati- cally unusual wraparound "label" that becomes animated when a consumer spins the plastic sleeve that covers it. It mimics the look of early motion pictures, which is a fitting motif for a winery founded by an Oscar award-winning movie director. People's Choice, as decided by votes cast by conference attendees: Final Cut by Francis Ford Coppola Above: Erica Odden, director of marketing for Rodney Strong Wine Estates, accepted a gold medal and the best in show award.