The Joy of Mead - Everything about the ancient drink and how to make it

Designing or buying your own wine and mead bottle labels

There are two very distinct things about the mead you are making and they are 1 the taste of your mead and 2 the design of your label. It is my opinion that you should put a lot of time into the labels of your mead bottles. There is just something special about the pride that comes with a great looking bottle of mead and not just a great tasting bottle of mead! There is a definite wow factor and a pride when you can show your friends, colleagues or fellow brewers a bottle of mead with a great looking label. It takes it from just something you kept fermenting in a bucket in the closet to something more.

Making your own Mead bottle labels

I do some artwork and have a limited amount of ability with design so I have embarked on doing some creative work with labels. It would be nice to have my own distinct label.

There are some distinct advantages to designing your own label in that there are very few rules. You can go wild with your label in its size, shape, color, text and anything else. Do whatever you want to evoke the feeling you want to achieve. Of course this will take some skill and practice but if you can pull it off you will achieve something you can be proud of - Your Mead bottles will be very distinct.

Icon: Art of the Wine Label
Wine label design has undergone a renaissance where art meets marketing in the most powerful way, penetrating the subconscious, utilizing the power of suggestion to imply flavor and quality. The acknowledged masters of the new wine label design are Jeffrey Caldewey and Chuck House. Over the past several decades they have played a pivotal role in defining the global wine renaissance. They have created design for some of the world's most sought after and/or most widely disseminated wine labels. Some labels are even pursued by collectors while others are displayed in the modern household as a design element.

Buying Wine Labels

Customizing wine labels is made very easy by a whole host of products and you can buy sheets of wine labels that are ready to be printed on right from your printer.

Pre made wine labels

Here is a single sheet of wine labels. You put it in your printer then using your computer you print the images and text right onto them. They are adhesive backed so you then just peel them off and apply them to your wine or mead bottle.

This process takes a little bit of computer savvy but is well within reach of most computer users. Your work can be as simple as just putting the name of your mead onto the labels then affixing the labels to the bottles. This type of wine label comes in a lot of different (and beautiful) styles.

One important thing to think about before you embark on your Mead and wine label selection is the type, and color, of bottle that you are going to be keeping your mead in.

There are many different shapes of wine bottles and there are shapes that have been created specifically for specific wines but as a home brewer of mead you are probably going to choose from between the two most popular (and inexpensive) wine bottle shapes: The Burgundy and the Bordeaux

Burgundy and Bordeaux wine bottles

Here are the two most common wine bottle shapes. The bottle on the left is Burgundy style and the bottle on the right is the Bordeaux style.

Of these two variations of bottles you also have to consider that they come in a variety of colors too, including clear glass. So when you are selecting or making labels you really need to consider the bottle because it will make a big difference in the final product.

Case of empty bottles

When purchasing your empty bottles you will probably buy them in cases of 12 just like shown in the picture at left. I would imagine the cost will vary quite a bit but I typically pay around one dollar per bottle.

completed bottle of mead with label attached

Here is a bottle of Mead that I have completed. It has two labels created with label software and printed out on my printer at home. Looks pretty good!