Gougér Cellars in Vancouver brings home double gold
While still reveling in what he called an amazing showing at this year's San Francisco Wine Competition, Gary Gougér, owner of Vancouver's Gougér Cellars, celebrated an equally important occasion – the anniversary of first meeting his wife, Bonnie.
"On our first date, I brought a bottle of my homemade port," Gougér said. "I had one glass and she had the rest."
That was July 14, 2007.
Almost three years later, on July 9, the judging committee at the 30-year-old festival announced that the same wine won a double gold in package design, beating out nearly 4,000 entries from over 1,200 wineries spanning 27 countries. Only nine double gold awards were given for design this year.
Sleek and tall, the bottle design includes the word, "Mine," as well as a deep red cork to match the color of the wine.
While boxing up the port soon after their wedding in 2009, Bonnie had written "Mine, Mine, Mine" across the bottles as a joke, Gougér said. Later, when working on packaging with Don Elliot of Elliot Design in Vancouver, the joke came back up, and they decided to use it as the port's name, according to Gougér.
"Don came back with some wonderful packaging, and I picked the bottle and Bonnie had come up with the name," he said. "It was a group effort."
Last week's honors weren't the first for the Vancouver wine-maker. Earlier this month, the judges awarded Gougér a silver medal for its Blend 903 in the tasting category.
"Winning both awards was incredible, especially since it brought recognition not only to us, but to Vancouver," Gougér said.
Gougér, who has been making wine since 2002, opened Gougér Cellars in September 2009 on Washington Street in downtown Vancouver.
Elliot founded Elliot Design in May 2008, and says he has been working with Gougér ever since the winery opened its doors. In addition to Gougér Cellars, Elliot has worked for Sweet Valley Wines in Walla Walla, as well as Vancouver-based Event 1 Software.
"This is an awesome recognition, especially with us being such a young company," Elliot said.
According to Elliot, he plans on continuing to grow his business and designing more bottles of Gougér vintages.
For his part, Gougér claims the awards won't change how he does things.
"When it comes to my life, I get to pursue my passion, work with my wife and meet amazing people." Gougér said. "People in Vancouver let me know they want me here – and I plan on staying."
