A local winery is raising a glass to romance by printing real couples’ love stories on the back of its wine bottles.
Field Stone Fruit Wines co-owners Laura Atherton and Phil Hoogendam launched the annual contest to showcase community love stories, with the winning entry featured on a bottle label.
Atherton said that the contest reflects her own enthusiasm for celebrating love. She and her husband have been married three times, renewing their vows to mark milestones in their relationship.
“We believe it doesn’t have to just be one time,” she said. “Anniversaries, romantic things, it’s always been something that I enjoy.”
Atherton said the idea grew from a desire to celebrate local couples and their milestones. The winery is already planning to add a third love story to the back of another bottle.
“From a first love all the way to a 50th anniversary, Fieldstone wants to be part of that journey with our community,” she said.
Previous contest winners have included couples Chelsea and Brent, and Andrew and Felicia, whose stories were featured on the winery’s raspberry wine bottles.
“They love it,” Atherton said of the winners’ reactions. “The couples are very pleased, often showing family and friends. It’s just a really neat memento for people to have.”
Atheron said wine is often in present during pivotal moments in life, from breakups to weddings and anniversaries, and the contest aims to highlight the positive ones.
“Oftentimes there’s so many difficult things in life, in the world and work, so many stressors, that if we can continue to share our love with each other and our friends and our family on a regular basis, it just makes life a little bit nicer.”
Atherton noted that love is a lifelong commitment, not something to recognize only on Valentine’s Day.
“We are always celebrating our love every day,” she said.
Submissions for this year’s Fall Love Story Label contest are open until Feb. 28.
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Dining and Cooking