Since Clos du Val’s inception, we’ve been guided and represented by three muses: the Three Graces. They appear front and center, pressed quietly into the glass itself, and inked onto the corks that keep our wines fresh for decades. It’s not a coincidence. It's the through-line that connects everything we bottle, from the Table Wine grabbed off a shelf to the Yettalil sitting in your cellar.
Where They Come From
The figures date much farther back than 1972, when the winery's first label featured three unclothed women on the bottle, an adventurous choice for Napa at the time and a clear departure from the staid label design most wineries were using. In Greek mythology, the Charites, usually named Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia, were goddesses of beauty, mirth, and grace, and artists have returned to them for the better part of five hundred years: Botticelli painted them into Primavera, Raphael and Rubens each took their own pass at the subject, and Antonio Canova carved a version in marble that's still one of the most recognizable Three Graces in existence. Our relationship with The Three Graces dates back to a 1624 bronze sculpture by German artist Georg Petel, which was acquired by our founder John Goelet in 1969, just three years before Clos du Val came to be. The sculpture now lives at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, but it lives on in our family and on our property through its likeness.
The 2021 Redesign
By 2021, the label had carried the Three Graces for nearly fifty years, and the winery worked with CF Napa Brand Design to rework the figures rather than replace them. The intention was to depict the graces more closely to the sculpture that had inspired the original design. The resulting design is graceful and elegant, and is presented slightly differently on each of our wines. The Cabernet Sauvignon puts the Three Graces front and center next to our signature wordmark, on a terracotta background that's gained its own brand recognition. The Estate tier debosses the figures into the label itself, a frame you feel more than read, alongside a handwritten vintage date and little else. The Yettalil, our icon wine, strips it down further still: the Three Graces alone, framed like a work of art rather than a logo.
The Graces, Unwound
The newest interpretation of the figures is on our Table Wine, the lighter, chillable red we introduced in 2026. Its label takes the Three Graces from our historic labels and shows them unwound. As Helen Goelet described it when the wine launched, the design "reimagines the figures unwound in a moment of shared freedom, movement, and joy." It is the most relaxed the Graces have ever looked on one of our bottles, which suits a wine made to be poured at a crowded table.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do the figures on the Clos du Val label represent? They're a version of the Three Graces, three figures from Greek mythology associated with beauty and grace, and a common subject in Western art for centuries. Clos du Val's original 1972 label was based on a sculpture owned by the Goelet family, Georg Petel’s “The Three Graces.” Our interpretation of the beauty of the Three Graces has evolved over time, yet we remain inspired by their beauty.
Is there a wine actually called Three Graces? Not anymore. We used to bottle a Bordeaux-style red blend called Three Graces, and it has since been replaced by Yettalil, our icon wine, whose label carries the Three Graces on their own.
Who redesigned the Clos du Val label? CF Napa Brand Design led the 2021 redesign, redrawing the Three Graces icon rather than replacing it and building it to work consistently from a shelf label to an embossed cork seal on the Yettalil.
Who designed the Table Wine label? Farnam West led the creative design for Table Wine, reiterating the Three Graces to fulfill a fresh, unwound, modern interpretation for a wine of the same characteristics.