Wine: Celebrating Mondavi Winery's 50th Year

[Mike Buckley]

Robert Mondavi is a legend in Napa Valley. Though he died about 10 years ago, the winery bearing his name celebrated its 50th year in 2016. The wine shown below, which was released that year, is a special reserve wine that has earned an average score of about 95 points (out of 100) from the widely regarded professional critics. It could easily be kept in a cellar for another 25 years. It's made of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot.

Notice that the front label indicates only that the wine is made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. That's because California wine regulations allow just one grape to be mentioned on the front label if at least 75% of the juice came from that species. Indeed, it's typical that a high-end Cabernet Sauvignon made in California will be a blend even when that's not indicated on the front or rear label.

My goal when making the photo was to keep the image simple and elegant, allowing the gorgeous label to speak for itself. When thinking about how to light the scene, my primary thought was to make sure the lighting didn't get in the way.

Setup
The tabletop is a floor tile and the background is a well-used, heavily stained baking sheet. (I'm a messy cook!) The stains created the exact mottled look I had in mind. Two small continuous-light lamps on the front left and front right sides were heavily flagged to prevent all but the smallest amount of light from falling on the subject. The flags were also positioned to allow a little more light to fall on the top than the bottom of the label so the winery's name and drawing would be emphasized. A medium continuous-light lamp very slightly lit the background.

The bright outline of the glass part of the bottle was created by light passing directly around each of the flags. Each side of the outline was controlled by the lamp on the same side as the outline.

Please click to view the image at a larger size to appreciate the gorgeous detail in the wine label. Kudos to the designer!

[LePetomane]

The date says 2013. I take that is the year of the harvest/crush?

[bje07]

What gets me wrong is that the angle of view does not show the bottle in a strictly vertical position (the top of the label is bigger than the bottom)
Also the bottom of the label seems darker (perhaps due to a coloring of the bottom of the label?)
BTW nice rendering of the shape of the bottle with rim light.

[Mike Buckley]

The date says 2013. I take that is the year of the harvest/crush?

Correct. Almost all wines are released in a range of one to five years, depending on the wine, after the grapes are harvested. This wine was released three years after the harvest.

What gets me wrong is that the angle of view does not show the bottle in a strictly vertical position (the top of the label is bigger than the bottom)

Great eye! The top of the physical label is indeed bigger than at the bottom. That's because the physical bottle is also bigger at the top than at the bottom and because the label covers more than half of the bottle's circumference (width).

You are apparently assuming the camera is positioned above the center of the bottle, as the resulting perspective distortion would render the top of the bottle larger than in reality. Instead, the camera is positioned a bit lower than the center of the bottle. That perspective makes the bottle appear a bit more grand, just as an adult appears to a small child. The converging lines at the top associated with perspective distortion also render the top of the bottle a little smaller than it is in reality. I was willing to make that compromise, as the top of the bottle still appears wider than the bottom, as you noted.

Also the bottom of the label seems darker (perhaps due to a coloring of the bottom of the label?)

The same colors and brightness are displayed throughout the physical label when it is evenly lit. I lit the label unevenly so the top would be brighter than the bottom for the reason explained in my first post.

[Mike Buckley]

My wife and I have a personal connection with this bottle of wine. We visited the winery in 1983 while we were on our honeymoon. We have also closely followed the career of Mike Grgich, who in the 1960s had an office in the top of the tower displayed on the wine label before he then moved on to become famous in the wine world. Considering all that and that the wine celebrates the winery's 50th anniversary, my wife and I have decided to drink this wine on our own 50th wedding anniversary, which means waiting another 16 years.

[bnnrcn]

It really looks elegant Mike The BG and the tabletop add a lot to the elegance of the image. Very clever idea to use a stained baking sheet to create an elegant look.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[Mike Buckley]

A belated thank you to Binnur and John!