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Bonny Doon

FEBRUARY 29, 2008

Last month, I got a call from Burke Owens at Bonny Doon Vineyard to create art for a new dessert wine they're introducing called Angel Paille, or Angel Pie: a sweet wine made from Grenache Blanc grapes, which are picked ripe and then dried on mats in the vineyard before pressing. The wine was described to me as "lush, with a pale gold color and sweet pear, quince and spearmint aromas", and the vineyard where the grapes were grown is named Beehive.

Working with those various clues, I tried out a number of different directions in B&W studies, finally settling on a combination of elements that spoke to different attributes the wine possessed. The bees reflect the vineyard name, the sweetness of the wine itself, and the sting of love (and fine wine).

The pie in the image is both a nod to the name (In the South, Angel Pie is a special style of dessert) and the function of dessert wines generally: To pair with a great after-dinner treat. Working with both the typography and imagery is something I always enjoy, and Burke was terrific in giving me the freedom to run with this one.
© 2024 Marc Burckhardt