While Booker is historically bound to its estate grapes for their iconic wines, every now and again a local neighboring block turns the decision-maker’s head. “Pearls” are what he calls them, and sometimes those make for some pretty amazing blends. Don’t tell Vertigo.
In the weeds: The oyster shell art is created using a raised round emboss on the linework, with a pearl foil which catches ambient light with subtle iridescence. Magical.
/ Art Direction / Design / Print Production Management
// Photo Accreditation // Barry Goyette
A talented winemaker with cred at some of the most renowned wineries in the Paso Robles AVA, Kyle Jury sets out to design his own vision. An architect at heart, he approaches winemaking with the mind of a pragmatist and the eye of a creative. From structure, comes beauty.
First vintage: 2022 Chardonnay.
PURPOSE 2023
The annual Must! Charities PURPOSE Benefit Auction funds our community’s most pressing, urgent needs ranging from poverty, hunger, mentorship and education, to childcare, equity gaps, health and human services, housing, homelessness and more. It’s a party with a PURPOSE! And this year brought in close to $2M for our community.
/ Art Direction / Design / Illustration
// Photo Accreditation // Hugo Martinez Visuals (Event Photography)
Package Design
Booker sought a label redesign for its Grenache blend Rosé, a best-seller in the winery’s tasting room. The winemaker, perhaps in defiance of typical approach to Rosé, actually adds some red wine to this wine.
Yeah yeah yeah. In making Rosé, red color seeps off of the skins for a little while and then you stop the process before the wine hits full-blown Red. But then, to add some Syrah after all that? Trippy. There’s more to that story.
Take a deeper dive here.
/ Art Direction / Design / Illustration / Print Production Management
// Photo Accreditation // Dina Mande
Brand Identity / Package Design
It all comes back to that story. Eric and Lisa Jensen had just started farming Booker Vineyard back in 2005 or so. And the esteemed father of Paso Robles cult cabernet, Stephan Asseo of L’Aventure Winery nextdoor, came to be a good friend and mentor. He would call up the winery and say, in his distinctive accent, “Eric... it’s Stephan! Your favorite neighbor!”
“Of course I know it’s you, Stephan. You’re the only French guy I know!”
This wine is an homage to the neighbors who made it possible.
On the artwork /
There is a comfort in the tactile nature of the tin can telephone. It suggests an immediacy. A requirement for tangible proximity. You can’t very well call up your friend on a tin can if you’re not pretty close by. And with the all-too-easy access to so-called relationships over text message and Snapchat and Instagram et al., our culture permeates with collective longing for a connection more intimate.
Who’s house do you want to show up at, on a momentary whim, to share an evening and maybe a great bottle of wine? Your favorite neighbor? How many of those do we really have, anyway?
We know who they are. And they’re pretty remarkable.
/ Art Direction / Design / Print Production Management
Package Design
Booker’s ‘My Favorite Neighbor’ project sources grapes from its favorite neighbors to create exceptional wine.
But what happens when you isolate the wine from just ONE of those vineyards, and release it on its own? …And then do it again, with the next vineyard? Super fun. The locals love it.
Denner, Parrish and Gateway vineyard-designate wines shown, produced in a series, to reflect a new dimension of the My Favorite Neighbor concept.
/ Art Direction / Design / Print Production Management
// Photo Accreditation // Annie Hock Photography
Package Design
Each puncture in the MFN monogram is unique — as idiosyncratic as the winemakers, growers and viticulturalists that made the wine happen. Disrupting the landscape of flat, predictable wine, each of their stories builds toward a larger one.
Original artwork was created with a pushpin, pressing through heavy Bristol paper, and subsequently photographed. The photography is then printed with a sculptured emboss that emulates the three-dimensionality of the source artwork.
/ Art Direction / Design / Print Production Management
// Photo Accreditation (of original source artwork) // Dina Mande
Brand Identity / Package Design
Second label for My Favorite Neighbor —
a Booker Vineyards project.
Named after the winemaker’s parents, Harvey & Harriet is an homage to the beauty, intimacy, and unvarnished complexity of personal relationships. Dedicated to Eric Jensen’s mom and dad.
Further inspired by the inceptional bond between Stephan Asseo of L’Aventure and Eric at Booker, this wine speaks to the close cooperation and interdependence of the wine community in Paso Robles, California. The slacklining concept for the artwork was inspired by a couple spotted on the outcropping above Pirate’s Cove in Shell Beach, California.
/ Art Direction / Design / Print Production Management
Podcast Logo Design
Eric Jensen, Booker Vineyards and My Favorite Neighbor’s vigneron (aka “The Badger”), brings his invariably entertaining personality to his podcast. Whatever cork you’re popping, he’ll be shooting the shit on the front porch, demystifying wine, talking music and sports and life and whatever else comes up when you’re drinking with friends.
/ Art Direction / Illustration / Design
Torrin’s renowned, expressive Rhône offerings spring from nature, and the addition of Le Devoir and Senechal wines are no exception. Limestone striations and the forked head of the grapevine compose this introduction of Graciano blends to the Torrin family.
/ Art Direction / Design / Illustration / Project Management
// Photo Accreditation // Taryn Dudley Photography
Brand Identity / Package Design
Torrin Vineyard of Paso Robles, California, distinguished by its expressive prestige Rhône varietals, sought a unique identity to formalize its first foray into Burgundy: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Lagom speaks to an approach of simple authenticity — "Enough is as good as a feast."
/ Art Direction / Design / Print Production Management
Apparel Design
Partnering with Patagonia, Tablas Creek Vineyard tells its origin story, educating guests through an apparel line. The series highlights the founder’s vision: to introduce Châteauneuf-du-Pape style wine to the United States, exploring the burgeoning possibilities of biodynamic vineyard practice.
/ Art Direction / Design / Hand-lettering / Illustration
Atavis boasts preeminent expertise in ozone technology covering the last several decades, serving a diverse range of applications with state of the art, field-proven ozone management.
Print / Retail Display / Events
Elevated the presentation of this specialty beauty brand for print, events and merchandising display at some of the world’s most prestigious beauty retailers including Sephora, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys New York.
/ Art Direction / Design / Project Management / Display and Print Production Management
Brand Identity / Creative Strategy
DEL Ozone, a global industry leader in environmentally-friendly water purification, was ready to shed dated branding of its inception in the 70s and embrace a comprehensive, modern redesign.
/ Creative Direction / Design / Project Management / Print Production Management
// Photo Accreditation // Barry Goyette
Logo Design
This is a quintessential assignment in the Cal Poly graphic design curriculum: “The Animal Project”.
By the time this requirement came along, I’d taken every drawing class that the university had to offer. Drawing was always my strong suit, and most likely what got me in the door.
So it comes as no real surprise that the most striking manifestation to come out of this symbology exploration was my first deep dive: drawing the face of the animal, and thus illuminating its soul. The rest follows. A glowing portrait, that translates to fresh iconography.
/ Symbol Development / Design
