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6 WINES&VINES October 2017 A member of Wine Communications Group Inc. ADVERTISING Vice President and Director of Sales Jacques Brix jbrix@winesandvines.com (707) 473-0244 West Lydia Hall lydia@winesandvines.com (415) 453-9700, ext. 103 Midwest Hooper Jones hooperhja@aol.com (847) 486-1021 East (except New York) Laura Lemos laura@boja.com (973) 822-9274 New York and International Dave Bayard dave@bayard.com (973) 822-9275 Advertising Production Manager April Kushner ads@winesandvines.com (415) 453-9700, ext. 114 Publishing & Events Assistant Emily Rosendahl DIGITAL EDITION All print subscribers now get digital access to Wines & Vines. You can: • DOWNLOAD pages or full issues • BROWSE current and archived issues • WATCH videos • ACCESS via desktop, tablet or smartphone • SEARCH by keyword or table of contents • NAVIGATE by topic or page thumbnail • QUESTIONS? Contact customer ser- vice at custserv@winesandvines.com or (866) 453-9701 Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. PDT. 34 WINES& CONNECT WITH US CONTRIBUTORS The author of the op-ed style Viewpoint column in this issue is Mitra Grant, the daughter of a winemaker who now manages most of the family business, The Lucas Winery, in Lodi, Calif. Grant grew up in the winery, but she moved away for 15 years to be a teacher and adminis- trator in schools in New York City. Now she is applying lessons learned as an educator to managing direct-to-consumer wine sales more effec- tively. Read how she connects the dots on page 32. With two Ph.D.s in economics between them, Dr. Sarah Quintanar and Dr. Eric N. Sims were well prepared to undertake a study on the unusu- ally complex process of "Purchasing French Oak Barrels" (page 56). Quin- tanar is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, and Sims teaches at Sonoma State University and consults at Continuum Estate in Napa Valley. The pair examined 15 years of French oak barrel purchasing decisions by Continuum Estate and tracked four scenarios about payment timing, barrel delivery and exchange rates to see which one would have saved the winery the most money. Hasn't every North American winemaker considered how his or her wines compare to the originals from Europe? Now two researchers at the Cornell Enology Extension Laboratory have brought this comparison exercise out into the open for Finger Lakes Riesling with their article "Regional Typicity of Cool-Climate Rieslings" in the Wine East section (page 76). Demetra Perry, laboratory manager, and Dr. Anna Katharine Mansfield, associate professor of enology, went to extraordinary lengths to study local New York wines alongside well-regarded Rieslings from the Pfalz and Rheingau in Germany, from Alsace and from Washington state. OCTOBER 2017 METALLICS BRIGHTEN LABELS Packaging Design Award Winners • What Bottle Weight Says ON THE COVER The Fableist Wine Co. of Paso Robles took home the Best in Show prize from the Packaging Design Awards revealed during the Wines & Vines Packaging Conference this year. Originally submitted for the Best Series Package Design category, the entry included six bottles featuring detailed drawings to represent varied Aesop's fables. QUESTION FOR OCTOBER: What are your priorities when designing a wine label? Ed King Chief executive officer King Estate Winery Eugene, Ore. A label is a wine's first contact with a wine lover. It is the wine's face and voice, before the wine can speak for itself. The label needs to describe the wine and vineyard—its place on the planet. A great label is an honest invitation: "Open me, let me out, swirl me—let's have some fun.…I have so much more to tell you." John Bargetto Director of winemaking Bargetto Winery Soquel, Calif. Bargetto Winery is celebrating our 85th harvest. The original label was a simple black-and- white item attached utilizing flour and water as glue. Our La Vita series started in 2001 with the concept of "wine in art through the ages," and has shown classic painting, mosaic, sculpture, music and tomb paintings from ancient Egypt to modern times. Art offerings must include wine or vineyard and be beautiful. John Backer Winemaker August Ridge Vineyards Creston, Calif. A small winery's label must be an authentic representation of the people who make the wine. At August Ridge, we are about food, family and friends and want our label to present the solid, enduring feel of a personally connected life. We reinforce the idea by always providing three simple words to place the wine in context with appropriate foods. In short, who we are and where does our wine fit into your life.