Best of Budapest & Hungary

This year the Bolyki Winery in Eger launched new labels for their complete range of wines that carry on the well-loved, light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek style of the previous series. The ideas for the fairy tale, fantasy world depictions came from Géza Ipacs, and were drawn by hand. As the new vintages hit the market, customers will see the labels change gradually, and through the end of next year, when the entire new range will be out.

The wines of János Bolyki are well-known for their quality, for their label designs and for their names, such as Indián nyár (Indian Summer), Hazug mókus (Insincere Squirrel) or Pocok a szántásban (Vole in Ploughland). These names are not easy to remember – not even in Hungarian – but the funny thing is that once you do, you’ll never forget them. The ’old’ labels were the result of a cooperation between the winemaker himself and the artist Géza Ipacs. “The exciting imagery, the characters and the stories of the previous generation of the labels have been popular but we felt the need for change as our product range has been revamped. The new line-up with the Egri Bikavér at its core demanded a unified image and I asked Géza again to come up with the design. We not only work together but have been friends for donkey’s years and there is no better person to find the right visual world that fits us,” János Bolyki says. They have decided that the new labels should take up where the previous series left off, with some minor changes.

The visual framework was provided by the Bolyki Winery’s iconic quarry. Like the set stage of a play where all the action takes place, the winery is always busy with workers, visitors, wedding parties, joyful festival crowds and concertgoers. One special feature of the labels is that, going against the tendencies of our digital age, the images were all drawn by hand by an illustrator. The narrative style of the back labels hasn’t changed and is complemented by the matching imagery: the stories back up the drawings and vice versa. The playfulness, the funny and fairy tale-like elements remain the same, while the execution of the images is much more sophisticated and the labels form a more cohesive unity. Each wine has its own story but somehow the wines together add up to one larger story. Crafty Rabbit is the protagonist, he is the one that guides us through the cellar, introduces the wines, tells stories and has something to say about everything that happens at Bolyki Winery. “The label design which is so close to my heart has been revamped, retaining its main motives but now boasting a more unified style and the images are even more imaginative. It now fulfils a new function as well: each label tells a Bolyki-story, and illustrates the text. We actually have a new publication out which includes all the stories collected in one issue. The design changes were also prompted by the fact that Jani Bolyki is about to welcome his fourth child and wants to tell his children his own stories about the Crafty Rabbit and his mates”, designer Géza Ipacs notes.