~Pliny the Elder
As I mentioned in my first post about the journey, each winery had a unique history and story to tell. And Imagery Estate Winery is no different.
‘It all started with a guy named Joe.’ So says the history of this unique winery. In the 1980’s, Joe Benziger moved with his family from New York to start a winery on Sonoma Mountain. After a few years, Joe decided that there were some vineyard lots that would be perfect to produce a series of small artisan wines.
Joe met up with a renowned local artist named Bob Nugent and Bob volunteered to design a label that could match the expressiveness and originality of the wine inside. Bob became curator of the Imagery Art Collection commissioning hundreds of international artists to design one of a kind artwork for Imagery Labels. You can read more of the interesting history of the winery here
Needless to say, it is fascinating. Each wine has a one of a kind label designed, never to be duplicated or repeated. Each artist is not limited by size, medium, or content but must include a likeness of the Parthenon replica that is on the Benziger Estate. It was so much fun looking through the art gallery of past labels and picking out the Parthenon. Some are very visible and some you have to search for. You can also buy prints in various forms of the ones you like.
Reason for the Parthenon? According to Winemaker Joe Benziner, it is the connection of the Imagery Winery to his family’s Benziger Winery.
Cool, huh?
The entire wine tasting bar is lined with these small ceramic pieces, both big and small, and you can actually pick out the ones you like and buy them. We bought two bottles of wine from Imagery. One, a Muscato de Canelli (love muscato wine!) and a bottle of 2009 Wow Oui which is a single vineyard Sauvignon Blanc. We had fun searching the bar for the stone magnets that matched both labels and bought them to bring home. Somehow I am going to figure out how to showcase them with the matching wine bottles. Hmmm… will let you know.
Could only find a picture of the Muscato label.
To be continued…
~Sandy