Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/235941
S A L E S & MA C K A G I N G P R ET The California Square package looks familiar but is unique to the wine industry: Like the Cuervo Gold tequila bottle that inspired Kevin Shaw, it's square. Similar to bottles for olive oil and balsamic vinegar, the dark green bottle is embossed on one side, silk-screened on another, paper labeled on front and back, with a natural cork and polylam capsule. Even though the square bottles are not lightweights, they are greener than traditional bottles. Their shape reduces the cost of pallet shipping and the size of case shippers. Square bottles can also save space at home: "Instead of a wine rack, put them on a book shelf," Kopp suggested. The proprietary bottles, made in China by a subsidiary of TricorBraun WinePak, were a long time in the making, and Truett Hurst has applied for a patent, which might take three months to a year for approval, Hurst said. "We designed them from the ground up," he said. "They are difficult to produce, but not expensive. No one has done this in wine." The original run of bottles, he said, was 20,000-30,000 cases. Truett Hurst hopes that consumers reuse the unique bottles, possibly for infused oils or vinegars, for instance. Just save the cork, and don't confuse it with the EVOO. TricorBraun Winepak packaging consultant Vivian Bolman worked with TH to develop the keepsake bottle. "I do believe this is a first in the wine business," she said. "Private mold making is one of our specialties. We started discussions about this bottle in late 2011." "This bottle weighs 530 grams, fairly normal for a wine bottle," Bolman said. "The height is also fairly standard. The box size is a little smaller than for a round bottle, but the quality of the box and divider is the same as for our other wine bottles. The specially molded California Square bottle is branded on each of its four sides. "Round bottles are easier to produce than square bottles," which require more know-how and experience, she added. During production of a square bottle— especially with sharp corners like this one—it is much more difficult to control the glass distribution of the walls. Obtaining an even distribution in the corners of the sidewall and the square heel is very difficult compared to a round bottle. Blowing the glass into these corners and maintaining a minimum glass thickness can be trying. "Another difficulty is that the label panels are not flat, but instead have a slight bulge to them. This bulge has to be controlled to within a few thousandths of an inch for proper labeling. If the bulge exceeds specifications, the screenprinting on the front panel will cause misprinting, and the paper labels will wrinkle on the side panels. TricorBraun also supplies the printed shipping cases, so the bottles arrive stateside already in their shippers. As the main bottle supplier for Truett Hurst, Enterprise Suite Technology to help you... Make Wine Comply with Regulations Control Costs Manage Inventory Know your Customers Sell More Wine Vintegrate Winery Software • Modular Grape-to-Glass Suite Winemaking Back Office POS Wine Club & Loyalty e-Commerce Events • On-Premise or Hosted • Implementation & Training • DTC & Operational Consulting • Fully Managed IT Services Visit us at Unified booth #122 info@vintegrate.com 800•487•3363 See us at Unified booth #122 Win es & Vin es ja n ua ry 20 14 105