Wine: Old World Wine Label

[Mike Buckley]

There are two characteristics about this wine that I like -- the flavor and smoothness of the wine and the label made in the old world style.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano regulations require that the wine is blended using the Sangiovese grape species as the primary grape. It is consistently one of the best values of Italian wine. As an example, I bought this wine for USD $15 and it's easily worth at least $20 compared to other similar wines.

Ironically, this exact bottle is the only bottle of wine I absolutely refuse to drink. When it arrived in a box containing six bottles, the foil at the top of the neck of this one had been completely removed. That allowed for the possibility, albeit a very remote possibility, that someone had injected poison into the wine.

Setup
The tabletop is a floor tile and the background is made of pieces of rough wood veneer adhered to a backing. A medium continuous-light lamp is positioned on the front right area well behind the camera. A flash light lights the cork and adds the bright gold colors to some of the shiny areas on the left side of the label. A white reflector lifts the shadows on the left side of the label and adds the reflection to the left side of the bottle to help define its shape.

[Shadowman]

I wonder if most European wines are bottled in the traditional manner or if some are massed produced by consortiums. Many years ago while visiting Italy we visited a winery that did almost all the bottling for nearby vineyards.

Nicely captured.

[Wavelength]

very nice shot

[madcrow]

Great image and light as usual but I would expect nothing less.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, guys!

I wonder if most European wines are bottled in the traditional manner or if some are massed produced by consortiums.

This one is bottled by a local bottler, not the winery, but I couldn't find information about the winery. I have never looked up the typical business models used in Italy, so I don't know, as an example, how they compare to the models used in France where there are negociants who use grapes grown on various vineyards not owned by the winery, wineries who use grapes grown only on their own vineyards, or a combination.

A lot of French wineries do their own bottling and this is usually indicated on the label and sometimes the cork. They began doing their own bottling in the 18th century because wine shipped to the middleman would often be illegally mixed with lesser quality, less expensive wines and sold as if it hadn't been mixed. Thomas Jefferson required that wineries do their own bottling to ensure that no shenanigans occurred, and it wasn't long after that wineries began doing this on their own for all of their wine.

[bnnrcn]

A very nice label indeed Mike There is a bit too much shine on the area below the letter 'O' and my eyes first go there rather than the whole label.

[mugge]

A very nice label indeed Mike There is a bit too much shine on the area below the letter 'O' and my eyes first go there rather than the whole label.

I concur with Binnur on that one Mike.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Binnur and Ole!

Interestingly, I intentionally added the bright area the two of you don't like. Sheesh!

The setup was still in place, so I lit it the same way for the version shown below except that I placed a black card between the bottle and the flashlight that lights the cork. Doing so prevented the label from being lit by the flashlight and eliminated that bright area the two of you don't like. Now that I see the results, I like this version better.

Once I viewed the new version on my monitor, I realized that my tripod had allowed a little creep in the 23 hours that took place in between the two captures. That's probably only noticeable when toggling back and forth between the two images. That's the sort of thing that happens when using a medium weight tripod and ball head instead of heavy weight gear.

I also changed the position of the cork. The first person to tell me why I did that gets a virtual gold star on their forehead.

[NorthernFocus]

Interesting label, Mike. I like the second version for the same reasons that others pointed out. Montepulciano was one of the towns where we overnighted during our bike tour last spring.

[mugge]

Mike, I like the second version better. A detailed account of the taste would be nice.
Cheers Ole

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Dan and Ole.

Sorry, Ole, but I rarely taste individual flavors in wine. That limits my ability to describe the taste in any detail.

[bnnrcn]

Second version is better Mike . In the first version the vignette was also a bit too heavy and it is lighter in the second version . I don't know why you changed the position of the cork though. So, I won't get that gold star

[benm]

>> I also changed the position of the cork.
So the grapes on the cork wouldn't be upside down?
The cork is so dark in the first image it doesn't really matter what its orientation is.

[bnnrcn]

May be

>> I also changed the position of the cork.
So the grapes on the cork wouldn't be upside down?
The cork is so dark in the first image it doesn't really matter what its orientation is.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Binnur!

So the grapes on the cork wouldn't be upside down?

You get the virtual gold star on your forehead.

[KimC]

Mike, I viewed this on my phone a couple of times, but didn't want to comment until I looked at it on my full size monitor.

I really like the light on the label. What struck my about the bottle however is that the bottle itself seems flat - it doesn't appear to have dimension - there is a hint of curve on image left, but it doesn't have the lovely curvy shape you typically give bottles. Perhaps this was so all the focus would be on your favorite part?

[Mike Buckley]

Great comments, Kim, for furthering discussion.

The only way to show more shape in the bottle itself is to do something to the center and/or right side of it. That's because in the case of red wine, the bottle and wine are opaque even when lit from the rear.

I tire of photos of bottles in magazines and elsewhere including my own images that show reflections on both sides of the bottle. Add to that that you're right that I wanted to bring the viewer's eye to the attention of the label. The label displays plenty of curvature, at least to my taste, and the implication for me in the mind's eye, as opposed to the actual eye, is that the bottle has the same shape.

You mentioned that I typically give shape to the bottles I photograph. I just now reviewed the photos at my website and my thinking is that not relatively many of them display the shape of the bottle on more than one side.