Crowdsourcing Our 2018 Christmas Wine Labels

Ready to pour on the cheer this holiday season? Nothing says “Christmas” like the festive labels on each bottle of our Christmas at Biltmore wine!

“In previous years, we held a competition for artists to share their interpretation of what Christmas at Biltmore means to them,” said Jill Whitfield, Wine Marketing Manager. “We chose several finalists, then asked our online audience to vote for their favorite design.”

Shaking it up

For 2018, Biltmore Wines decided to shake things up a bit. Instead of asking artists to submit their work, they asked our Facebook followers to help them develop this year’s Christmas wine labels, one step at a time.

Step one

“First, we worked with Biltmore’s art team to create a pair of mood boards,” Jill explained. “One featured #Natural elements (a celebration of the natural side of Christmas with warm vintage details and rustic textures inspired by the organic beauty of the great outdoors); the other was #Splendor (setting a splendid tone for the holiday season with dazzling displays of lustrous lights, glamorous metallic elements, and hints of pure opulence). We then posted them on Facebook and asked our fans and followers to vote for their favorite mood.”

Mood board featuring natural elements

Step two

For the second phase of voting, Lisa Vogel, Art Director, created two more collections so voters could choose between themes representing a daytime mood with sunshine and outdoor activities and a twilight theme in which you might see woodland animals come out to play.

Facebook fans were up for the challenge, but made it clear they liked both mood boards.

The artist begins sketching label designs

“Our plan was to have Asheville artist Bryan Koontz take inspiration from the winning elements and create an original painting based on them,” said Lisa, “but it quickly became obvious that voters didn’t want to choose just one design

Round two of Facebook voting featured #Daytime and #Starlight options

And the winner of this years Christmas wine labels is…

What happened next? “We paid attention to all the votes and all the comments,” Jill said, “and decided to produce two Christmas at Biltmore wines!”

Lucky for Biltmore and our online voters, Bryan was happy to double his workload and paint not one but two pieces of art that would become the 2018 Christmas wine labels.

Bryan Koontz painting a nightime scene for the Christmas at Biltmore Red Wine label

The finished labels celebrate the natural daytime (white wine) and evening (red wine) splendor of this special season at Biltmore.

“The voters made it clear what they wanted,” said Jill, “and that’s why crowdsourcing is such a great way to engage your audience—it gives your most loyal followers a voice in what you’re creating for them.”

Pour on the cheer with Biltmore wines

Purchase any of our fine wines—including Christmas at Biltmore Red Wine (soft and fruit-forward with flavors of berry and spice to complement holiday dishes including ham, turkey, and blackberry pie à la mode) and Christmas at Biltmore White Wine (fragrant and semi-sweet with flavors of apricot, spice and citrus to pair with seasonal favorites like sweet potato casserole, apple pie, and pumpkin pie)—at estate shops or online.