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54 WINES&VINES September 2018 PACKAGING What's Popping in Sparkling Wine Packaging As more wineries add a sparkler to their portfolios, they also aim to have that bottling stand out By L.M. Archer A ccording to a 2017 Nielsen study, 71% of consumers don't know what they want when they walk into a store looking to buy some wine. Nielsen concluded packaging is of vital im- portance to persuade consumers to buy a par- ticular brand. And as sparkling wine continues to grow in popularity in the United States, those same consumers are now more likely to be look- ing for a bottle of bubbles. Innovative and at- tractive packaging could help convince them to pick your brand off the shelf. For Maria Stuart of R. Stuart & Co. in Mc- Minnville, Ore., the ultimate goal of any wine label is to create a personal connection be- tween the customer and the wine. "When a wine speaks to a person, you've got a customer for life," Stuart said. Stuart worked with de- signer Andrea La Rue at Nectar Graphics in McMinnville to create the Bubbly and Rosé d'Or sparkling wine labels. La Rue isn't the only designer delighting sparkling wine makers. Carrie Higgins of CRUSH Creative Packaging, the wine label divi- sion of Taylor Made Labels in Lake Oswego, Ore., is a 25-year wine industry packaging vet- eran. Higgins' tagline is, "There's drama in a package," and she said most clients venturing into sparkling wine ask the same questions: "How do I take my existing brand and create something lovely that's different? How do I make it stand out from my still wines?" Higgins consults with clients on a whole host of technical aspects specific to sparkling wine, such as paper stock, embellishments and what she calls the "sparkle factor" — which makes a wine stand out on the shelves. "A couple of years ago, when sparkling wines were just sort of peeking out in Oregon," Higgins said, "people were pretty conservative. "It was hard almost to tell it was a sparkling wine. It was almost like they were afraid of it, because we didn't really do sparkling wine in Oregon, right? To me, it's super fun and excit- ing to see people taking chances. … This is your time to take a little risk, get a little funky, be creative, have some fun." Recently, Higgins collaborated on the pack- aging for a new Jackson Family Wines sparkling project called Lytle-Barnett. Higgins printed the labels in Lake Oswego, package design originated with Andrea La Rue of Nectar Graphics, and Radiant Sparkling in McMin- nville handled the bottling. "This is a stand-alone sparkling wine proj- ect," Higgins said. "It's three different sparkling wines being released all at one time, and they're using a paper that was specifically developed for sparkling wine — called Sparkling Asti by Fasson. The paper manufacturers are now actu- ally making papers geared towards this fun sparkling-wine-specific market." Higgins also sees more "ice bucket" tested papers, die cuts and adhesives for sparkling wines. "Paper, adhesive, varnishes — you have to make sure you're marrying a wet strength paper and a wet stick adhesive," she said. "Those two components must sync up, and they're very different. That's on the end line. But oftentimes there are conditions on the bottling line end of it as well." Condensation and overflow can occur dur- ing bottling, so some wineries prefer to label afterward. Higgins advised doing some re- search on the bottling provider, its equipment, the bottling environment, the machinery, who will be applying the labels and when. "Those are critical questions to ask because if you don't, you could really risk failure, and could be looking at a reprint — more expense — if you don't have those discussions up front." Heather Chartrand, chief operating officer of Watermark Labels in Lodi, Calif., concurs. "We are seeing a trend with traditional wineries add- ing a sparkling varietal to their product offering," she said. "Our customers have taken a strong KEY POINTS Unique labels and other elements help con- vey what's unique about a sparkling wine. Traditional Champagne corks and crown caps are popular. Canning sparkling wine is a cost-effective and trendy way to market. The new Lytle Barnett brand features a label paper developed just for sparkling wine.