DAYBREAK BY COPAIN

On a summer afternoon dog walk, I noticed a California poppy growing out of a sidewalk crack. The bright orange against the concrete caught my attention. That night on the same route, I passed the poppy again and found it closed up tight. That's when it dawned on me (no pun intended) that poppies open at daybreak.

Winemaker Ryan Zipaltas describes his Daybreak wines as "the California Dream, but of the 1970s," and that detail handed me the visual language. The label artwork layers the stages of the poppy opening in a style drawn from screenprint album covers of the era. Bold, unfussy, and a little wild.

Daybreak is part of the Copain portfolio, a white blend and a chillable red, both built around floral aromatics that hit you the moment you crack one open. The wines had personality. They just needed a package to match.