Finding a Name...

...for your wine is tantamount to parents picking a name for their child that's about to be born. You want a name reflective of something worthwhile. My first wife and I had three sons and each one was an experience in finding the right name. Looking back now, I want to believe that we could have named them different names and that today they'd be the same irrespective of the name we gave them. A rose by any other name is still a rose. Well that saying might apply well to plants but I wouldn't apply it to people.

I'd like to think that the discussions and the disagreements their Mom and I went through in picking their names meant something; that the names we arrived upon has had some impact on their lives. And that is the underlying belief I think we all have. And that is why we take bestowing a name on a loved one or in wine making, the product of our loving and caring natures, with such a serious and benevolent approach.

How can we go about picking a name for our wines? If it were like picking a name for a person we might go to a book of names. We'd find Anthony, Ezequiel, Alberto, Ricardo, Ana, Kim, Carolina, Omar, Arabella and so on and so on. I guess you might want to name your wine in such a manner. For example my brother Cio (the wine maker) titles his Chardonnay, Dona Magdalena, after our Grandmother; his Zinfandel, Don Ezequiel, after our Father and his Cabernet, Don Lucio, after our Grandfather.

He choose to honor those who contributed much to his own life and that to me goes a long way and says a lot about the wine maker. I'm trying to get him to produce a Port and I want him to name it Don Antonio. He could name it San Antonio but I think readers would confuse that with the Texas City by that name and not necessarily me. That of course would really tell me a lot about the wine maker. (I hope my brother is reading this.)

Another approach would be to focus in on sayings, "To be are not to be...that is the wine" or "carpe diem" seize the day or "mens rea" would be a good one for a criminal attorney who happens to make wine (it means guilty mind). There are places on the internet like "Latin phrases" or "Spanish phrases" that are good to look at for ideas. I saw one on a Spanish phrase site, the word was "besame" with an accent on the first "e"; it means kiss me. I like that one.

Emotions are another fertile ground for finding the appropriate name for your wine. Use a romantic language such as Spanish. Sentir or sentirse usually means "to feel an emotion." I always thought "jealousy" was a great descriptive word. You find it in many love relationships and that alone makes it a great word. It may refer to a strong feeling of envy or it can imply a sense of distrust, suspicion or anger.

I've always liked the word "Carinos" (it has a squiggly over the n) and is used to describe those tender actions loved ones do to one another such as tapping your grandchild on the bottom as they run off to play or rubbing the earlobe of your better half as she has her head on your lap as you watch t.v.. A tender moment is a thought that goes well when drinking wine.

As you can see the approach is endless. Let me know your thoughts. Share, so we can all be better.

Love Anthony

My New Label "Mis Ninos" for 2009

I took the weekend just to let my mind, on its own, think about label possibilities for this 2009 production. Remember I was toying with the name "Mis Ninos" meaning "My Children"? Well that has stayed with me. So, after court this morning (I am a trial attorney for those of you who want to know what I was doing in court) I sat down at my computer and by 1:48 p.m. I had my label complete and placed on bottle number 17 of our production.

I used the software "Microsoft Publisher" that came with the computer to create the label. I laid out the paper (11 x 8 1/2) as landscape so that when I created the label each page would contain four labels.

I started out with the name "Mis Ninos" but the first problem I ran into was the squiggly mark above the second "n" in Ninos, i.e., how do I place it there? I ended up looking at the different characters or figures in the software program and I found not a squiggly mark but an image that would work as well. I laid out the information in a single label and then I copied and pasted the label into the other three word boxes that I initially created on the page.

I printed out the initial four label page and made several corrections (I find it easier when I can hold a copy in my hands when making any changes).

In the first attempt I numbered each of the labels 1, 2, 3 and 4. I changed this to "No." without any numeral. I can personally write the number in and give that a personal touch to each label.

I also changed my warning "NOT INTENDED FOR SALE" TO "SALE PROHIBITED". Why? Because it took up less space and is was more emphatic.

I printed out the final version and with scissors cut out the four labels. I placed one on the number 17 bottle and used Ana's nail polish (I was hoping to find a clear polish but instead settled on a reddish color) to adhere the label to the bottle.

The label reads beginning at the top: MIS NINOS in large blue letters, then the year 2009 again in large blue letters (all the text on the label is blue and the image I used for the squiggly is in red with a shadow), then CABERNET SAUVIGNON and below that, ST. HELENA, CALIFORNIA. I then set forth the following, one below the other: "Picked: 10/17/09; Pressed: 11/1/09; Bottled: 11/6/09". Below that I set forth the following: "Harvester: Fred White, T'Andre White, Joseph Manning, Anthony Perez". Then below that in the lower left corner I have, "No.". To the opposite right corner I put in capital letters, "SALE PROHIBITED".

The only thing I don't have on the label is the alcohol content and that is because that is information I don't have. I talked to my brother Cio, the family wine maker, and he said that they have a litmus paper that can help with determining the alcoholic content of a liquid. That's what I will most likely do because it would be better to know that piece of information.

Overall, in my opinion, a stupendous display of talent.

There is one last dressing up of the bottle I intend to do and that is to coat the corked end of the bottle (the neck) with red wax.