Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/63937
WINEMAKING charlie Wagner wanted mer soleil's ceramic bottle to match the color of concrete fermentors. We scrapped the idea of paper labels and pur- sued silk screening, which had its own set of issues. The silk-screen process required the paint to be baked onto the bottle after the decoration had been applied, and since the bottles have already been baked once at the time of manufacture, the second bake was cracking some of the bottles. Monvera in Richmond, Calif., worked through these issues and found a paint that bakes on at a lower temperature, which in turn does not crack the bottles. W&V: What has the reaction been from consumers? Any com- plaints that the bottle doesn't fit in a standard wine rack? Wagner: The consumer has reacted positively to the bottle. I believe the consumer likes the fact that the bottle tells the story of how the wine is made—it's fermented and aged for a few months in concrete tanks. Our first vintage using this bottle was in 2008, when we bottled 1,000 of the 5,000-case run in ceramic. The balance was done in glass. This small run of ceramic was allocated to a couple of our most important mar- kets to quickly and easily judge the reaction of the consumer. All seemed positive, so in 2009 we bottled 10,000 cases in ceramic. In 2010 we grew a bit more than that, and for the 2011 vintage we plan on producing 50,000 cases. We were very cautious when entering the market with this product due to the fact that it is visually un- like other products on the shelf. We feared rejection from distributors, consumers and sommeliers alike, but because of the story the bottle tells and the visual shock value, I believe we have grown our fan base since we switched from glass to ceramic. And we haven't received any complaints that the bottle doesn't fit in a standard rack. W&V: What is the cost difference between the ceramic bottle and a glass bottle? The ceramic bottle seems heavy; are you spending more on shipping? Wagner: The price difference between glass and ceram- ic is about 35-40 cents per bottle, so it does add up, but we see it as a great investment due to the visual atten- tion it receives as compared to its glass cousins. To me, it feels like a more expensive bottle than it actually is. Don't lose your label in the ice this summer. Switch to paperless. Ask us how. Richmond, CA | Toll-Free: (877) 792-1150 | www.monvera.com Wines & Vines MAY 2012 53 MONVERA GLASS DÉCOR