They say it's what's on the inside that really counts . . . but not for our annual label contest. The artistic side of our readers is on display as we present the bronze, silver, gold and grand champion of our 2007 Label Contest.

Each year, as the many hundreds of entries for our annual label contest start filtering in, a feeling of anticipation grows among the BYO staff. Many a battle has been won and lost among the judges over the Grand Champion, Gold, Silver and Bronze winners. Personal favorites are chosen, alliances are formed, battles are waged and compromises are few.

OK, the real truth is it’s very hard to pick the best labels from all the creative and diverse entries we see, and this year was no exception. From the classic to the graphic, we eyeballed them all — agonizing over their finer points, poring over their stories and asking each other, “What do you think?”, “What would that look like on a bottle?” and “Why didn’t I think of that?!”

In the end, we all developed a real sweet tooth for our Grand Champion and narrowly agreed on the rest. Take a minute to drink in this year’s top designs, and winners — don’t forget to take a bow!