In the early 90’s , after moving from SF to Potter Valley, Jim Scott began working as a home winemaker. His trusty boxer “little Ricky’’ was always by his side and curious about every thing his master did! Jim was listening to “ I am the Walrus” by the Beatles and heard the line “such a Naughty Boy” and dubbed Ricky by this nickname. He then worked up a label with a drawing of little Ricky and dubbed the wine Naughty Boy. We used this label on our homemade wine.
An artist from the Bay Area Toru Sugita who had gone to the Art Institute with Jim saw the label and volunteered to create a computer generated label using a picture of Little Ricky. Using early equipment he produced the first Naughty Boy Label which Jim and Emjay were quite pleased with and began reproducing and using.
Looking for a product to produce on the Potter Valley acreage. Jim took many classes locally and at U.C. Davis and learned about professional winemaking and grape growing.
He and Emjay then planted the Pinot Noir vineyard in Potter Valley (with the help of friends many wonderful friends!). Jim had determined that the climate was best for Pinot Noir, despite it being a difficult grape to grow, he was up to the challenge.
The first crops were sold to Graziano Family of Wines and Cordera Blackstone. This worked for a few years until the price the wineries were willing to pay for grapes dropped. Jim and Emjay then decided to ‘bite the bullet’ and bottle their own wine.
By trading grapes to Greg Graziano, they were able to bottle their Pinot Noir at Grazianos winery. It was then produced under the Naughty Boy label and they began selling it and delivering it all over California.
Over the years, they added Chardonnay, Pinot Rose and Dolcetto.
Sometimes while doing sales, vendors would say they liked the wine but did not care for the label, so Jim branched out and started working on new alternate labels, however, they always kept the Naughty Boy Label that retains a great following of fans 21 years later.
The Dolcetto was produced using a painting of Rapunzel commissioned to artist Cindy Ryan of Massachusetts. Originally conceived with the name Punzel, they were disappointed to learn that Punzel was already a licensed name in Switzerland for another product. They decided on NBV and produced a fairy tale like label with a crown and blue bird of happiness. These labels were produced with the assistance of Joe Herdell of Herdell labels in Napa.
Always interested in the Art of the Label, Jim continued to work and the label morphed through the years.
While visiting Banff and Lake Louise, Emjay came out of The Hudson Bay Company. On the bag Jim noticed the “coat of arms” and was inspired to create a Naughty Boy Coat of Arms using all boxers! He attempted to convey his concept to some graphic artists, but then went back to Joe Herdell who by then worked very well with Jim side by side to create the Floyd & Eddie label. Look closely and you will see the original Toru Sugita label inside the coat of arms. Floyd was also one of the 10 boxers that had been part of Jim and Emjay’s family of boxers.
Artist Michael Hayes from Eureka and Medford, with a gallery in the Bahamas, volunteered to do a more sophisticated drawing of Eddie Haskell for the Naughty Boy label. Because Eddie was such an active dog, we took many pictures for him to render the head and profile from, he came through with a beautiful and dignified drawing of Eddie Haskell which is used on the newest Naughty Boy Label.
During the years, there have been many variations and it has always been a fun artistic endeavor combined with the wine making. Naughty Boy is certified Organic by Wine and has garnered many gold medals over the years. Jim and Emjay built their own winery which is licensed in Potter Valley and the Chardonnay and Pinot Rose are made there. Graziano family of wine continues to make the Pinot in Redwood Valley.
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