Bully Hill- vibrant and inexpensive art from a true Maverick

"They have my name and heritage but they didn't get my goat." - Walter S. Taylor, the maverick vintner who challenged the Fortune 500 powers that be and "lost" but then won on his own terms.

Walter S. Taylor broke from his uncles and The Taylor Wine company in the 1960's to focus on wines made without relying on additives and preservatives. Subsequent court battles ensued. I met Walter S. Taylor in 1985 at a college lecture and was thrilled when he signed my poster - at that time he was under court order not to associate his last name "Taylor" with his new vineyard, Bully Hill. If I remember correctly, the fine was $10,000 per incident. But as I said, he was a maverick.

Walter was also a prolific artist with many of his works being used for wine labels. These labels are now available as colorful posters - at only $8.00! I have a number of them in my home.

(Click here to visit the page where in the bottom right corner is a link to his art gallery.)





I have the Aurore one in our basement rec room.


The Ravat poster hangs in my kitchen.

The above two are currently hanging in my periwinkle colored office.

Walter S. Taylor served as an official artist for NASA and painted the Columbia III Shuttle in 1982.

Walter S. Taylor on the right. I wrote to Mr. Taylor in the spring of 2001 to request an interview with him about his life but my letter was returned with sad news. He had passed away April 20, 2001 at the age of 69 after being paralyzed from a car accident ten years earlier.

Hats off to this maverick - "a lone dissenter, as an intellectual, an artist, or a politician, who takes an independent stand apart from his or her associates." source dictionary.com
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