Labels of Clos Pepe: A Retrospective of the Label Art on Our Bottles

As you will see below, we change our label art for each vintage. Chanda is in charge of finding artists and having them complete a piece of art that represents Clos Pepe. The rule we usually follow is this: ask the artist to spend a day or two at the vineyard to soak up some Clos Pepe-ness, then to create a piece of art that represents the vineyard to them. We try to allow the artists as much license as possible, and as a result we have the same philosophy as our wines: let them represent a time and a place.

2000 Label Art by Larry Thompson, Santa Barbara Architect.

This piece was done by the architect we hired to start working on transforming the old barn into a Tuscan Villa.

In 2000 we were 6 years away from completing this house, but if you've been to the Clos you know that the rendering is almost perfect to how Steve and Cathy's house looks today.

2000 was our first vintage, and was marked by a small crop, good weather with some heat spikes, and vines that were still very small (< 1 ton/acre) and producing their first crop of Pinot Noir.

2001 Label Art by Leonardo Nunez

Leonardo is our favorite Lompoc artist. As you will see, he has done more labels for us than any other artist, and for good reason. Click on his name above to check out all of his beautiful work.

Leonardo has a classical touch with landscape and architecture. His prints of the California Missions are extraordinary.

This image is a copperplate etching of the west end of the vineyard, near the Wente Chardonnay.

2001 was our second vintage. The vines were a bit larger and healthier, the crop was only marginally larger (1 ton/acre). Harvest was hot on certain days, and the wine was some of the best we've made.

2002 Label Art

An Oregonian pet artist helped memorialize Bud after he passed away here at the Ranch.

The view to the pond is from the point of view of his final resting place.

2002 was influenced by harsh drought conditions. The yield was under 1 ton/acre and the wines were highly concentrated and rich.

2003 Label Art by Michael Wilcox

Michael and his wife Denise came up to the ranch during the 2003 vintage and stayed a few days.

Michael is a wildlife biologist who specializes in reptiles and beetles. He was a good friend of Wes' at the University of Redlands, where they spent many a night driving through the desert observing slithering wildlife.

On his trip to Clos Pepe, Michael heard and saw a California Thrasher near the fenceline, and as he has always loved the species, rendered it in pen and ink against the Live Oak where it was thrashing.

2003 was the last severe drought year. Yields were still small and the wines were rich and dense.

2004 Label Art by Leonardo Nunez

Leo strikes again with a beautiful pencil rendering of our pond, with our Border Collie, Rosa, hunting waterfowl.

Rosa loves to swim and chase ducks at the pond. Once in a while we find evidence of a kill--feathers are all that's left. We believe its the ducks' bad judgement to live so close to Pinot Noir vines.

2004 was a short, hot vintage that produced ripe, generous wines that were approachable quite young. Yields were in excess of 2 tons per acre for the first time.

2005 Label Art by Bob Trupe (email: dbtrupe@silcom.com)

Bob did all of the faux finishing and original art pieces on the 'Big House' here at Clos Pepe. After seeing his work, we offered him the 2005 label gig.

The juvenile red-tailed hawk on the endpost is a perennial character that we've seen grow up here at the Clos--Bob saw lots of birds of prey during his time here and wanted to include one.

The front gate (with the wrought iron CP) also struck Bob as an icon of the property, so he created an image that represented the vineyard and our sustainable focus.

2005 was a wonderfully cool, balanced growing season. Crop was about 2 tons/acre and the wines were juicy, spicy, balanced and perfectly complex.

2006 Label Art by Leonardo Nunez

The third label by noted muralist, painter and printmaker/Intaglio artist Leonardo Nunez of Lompoc.

This Vintage we wanted to celebrate the completion of Steve and Cathy's new house and the integration of the sheep into our sustainable farming methods.

We were lucky that Leonardo had the same vision. From a photo taken from the Machado property North of us, we get a great view of Steve and Cathy's new digs.

Search carefully and you will see the Southdown Babydoll Sheep grazing in the olive orchard.

The 2006 Vintage was marked by cool weather, slightly less crop than 2005. The wines were taut and fruity with great spice notes and perfect for 5-10 years in a cool cellar.

2007 Label Art by Ron Guthrie

We find artists in the darndest places. Ron's art is hung in Buellton at our favorite donut store: Donut Time. It's one of those places that really cares about the food they make.

Ron's art immediately struck as amazing. He uses the 'stippling' technique of making images with thousands of tiny dots. talk about patience!

He's also an expert at livestock art, so it was no surprise he wanted to take a few phoots of the sheep in the vineyard and make a label with that theme.

Vintage 2007 was the longest, coolest growing season we'd seen 9since 2008!). The yield was decent, around 2 tons/acre and the fruit came in perfectly balanced and ripe. The wines are plummy and structured.