Wine label competition proves too close to call

A new food and drink firm’s quest to choose a painting for its new wine labels proved so successful that it chose two winners instead of one.

Scott Morris of Eat and Drink Italy with artist Pat Edgar, whose painting will feature on the firm's white wine labels

Eat and Drink Italy sponsored a prize at the recent Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour open annual exhibition, with the winning painting set to used as the brand image for its Tili wine collection.

Of the more than 500 paintings that were submitted, about 300 were exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy on The Mound in Edinburgh, and the directors of family-run Eat and Drink Italy selected a shortlist of 12 for the competition.

But the panel were unable to separate their two favourite entries, from artists Pat Edgar and Paul Murray, so decided on a draw – with Edgar’s “Blue Dawn” chosen for white wines and Murray’s “Looking Out” used for red labels. The winning artists were awarded with two crates of wine each.

Scott Morris with artist Paul Murray, right, whose painting will be used on the Tili red wine

Eat and Drink Italy director Scott Morris said: “It was hard enough getting down to the shortlist, never mind the final two and when it came to trying to choose between them it was just impossible. As soon as we talked about the option of having a different label for reds and whites we knew it made complete sense and I’m delighted we made that decision.”

The first bottles will go on sale at Harrison’s Fine Wines in Crieff and online at winestore.co.uk in January.