Long after the last drop of wine is emptied from a bottle, we can still enjoy the memories of that vintage — just by looking at the label. This year we received many entries to our annual label contest, and based on what we saw there are a lot of great (tasting) memories out there. Have a glass of wine and take a look at this year’s winning entries. Congratulations to all the winners, thank you to the prize donors and everyone who entered — you made judging a tough job!

Who says you can’t choose a wine based on the label? We certainly don’t! In fact each year we can’t wait to see the thousands of entries for the WineMaker label contest. Ranging from the simple, elegant and austere to the wild, wacky and whimsical, we had a great time choosing which would be this year’s best.

While the competition was certainly fierce (we loved them all!) we somehow narrowed it down to a Grand Prize winner with a love for all things Gorey (as in Edward), a goofy Gold-winning Gewürztraminer, a Silver from “St. Somewhere,” and a Bronze winner with a wild side. Congratulations to all! 

Ever judged a wine by its label? We do every year and here are the best for 2006.

Thousands of entries streamed into our Vermont editorial offices this summer for consideration in the 7th annual WineMaker Label Contest. The staff gathered around our large conference table to evaluate the entries in waves. After much deliberation, some arguing, and a few glasses of wine, we arrived at the winners featured on the next several pages. We hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed judging them! Thanks to all who entered and to our prize sponsors.

With over 1,000 varied entries to decide amongst, judging our 6th Annual WineMaker Label Contest was a daunting task. Eventually, after much consideration — and a few glasses of wine — we arrived at this year’s set of winners.

For the 5th straight year, WineMaker magazine’s offices were flooded with entries for our annual label contest. Here are the best homemade labels for homemade wine from the nearly 1,000 entries we enjoyed reviewing and judging. Thank you to all who took the time to enter and thank you to our advertisers and retailers who donated prizes to the top winners!