It wouldn’t occur to you to buy a bottle of wine whose dressing would be off-putting to you. Ferrying and strolling, your eye already triggers a subtle mechanism where emotion tramples on reason to better open the floodgates of salivation controlled at the level of your brainstem and executed by a parasympathetic nervous system that you yourself find sympathetic. without even knowing why. In short, buying a wine is already tasting it with the brain.
An illustrator for ten years, Quebecer Benoit Tardif is also artistic director and co-owner of Éditions de Ta Mère, where he designs most of the book covers. Over the years he worked for the New York TimesDogwood Coffee, The WalrusBlue Q, Paperole but also, more particularly in the world of wine and cider, on behalf of Club de Jus, Garneau Block, Oenopole, Hobo Wine Co., Cidrerie au Pied de Cochon, Vin Mon Lapin or Bar à Cork wine. The duty questioned him this week about his profession.
What makes an illustrator interested in dressing a wine label? Do you have to be a wine lover yourself?
I really like wine, but I’m not a connoisseur. I am a big foodie and a big curious. I believe that my illustrations breathe the joy of living. The “bon vivant” side of my job has led me to work with restaurants like Joe Beef, which has brought me many new clients in the food and wine world. For several years, I have been illustrating articles for Noble Rot Magazine. I learned a lot about wine by reading the articles I had to illustrate.
What are the angles, the parameters, that define an effective wine label?
I don’t claim to know the magic formula. For my part, as a consumer, I like when the winemaker chooses to highlight the work of an artist. It may be stupid, but I tell myself that if I have the same taste in visual arts as him, chances are good that I like his wine. It works very often! The wines I choose for their label are often to my liking.
Has there been a small revolution in terms of wine bottle packaging in the industry in recent years? And, if so, what are the implications for the consumer?
Yes indeed. There are more and more extremely interesting bottles. I think the illustration has the wind in its sails. More and more illustrators are hired for all kinds of projects. I also do a lot of book covers for Éditions de Ta Mère where, ten years ago, we were pretty much the only ones to have illustrated book covers in Quebec. Now there are many more. I believe that the same phenomenon can be observed in the world of wine, cider and beer. It loosens up, moreover, the image of wine, which could seem a bit snobbish to me.