Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/658375
34 WINES&VINES April 2016 WINEMAKING He recommends allowing 12 months lead-time if design is re- quired and six months if it is not. Tom Rochioli is the winemaker and co-owner of Rochioli Vine- yard & Winery, a 12,000-case op- eration in Healdsburg, Calif. He has been part of the winery since its first vintage in 1985. Rochioli takes bottling planning very seri- ously, as "bottling is the one thing that can be worse than rain during harvest." Like Rafanelli-Fehlman and Close, Rochioli says it's "bet- ter starting early than late," espe- cially with a new package. In a small winery, Rochioli be- lieves it should be the winemaker who coordinates everything. To keep on top of things, he uses spreadsheets and color-coded clip- boards for each wine (green for Sauvignon Blanc, yellow for Char- donnay and red for Pinot Noir). Rochioli places high value on vendors who genuinely care, the kind who "stop in on bottling day to see how it's going." His advice is, "Don't play with price. You get what you pay for." Rochioli's ven- dors are part of his team. Along with using Ryan Mobile Bottling, he gets corks from M.A. Silva, capsules from Ramondin, glass from TricorBraun and labels from Herdell Printing. Because of his long relationship with Herdell, the label vendor once "stayed up all night" printing for him. He con- sults with the bottler about all potential package changes, be- cause they bottle every day and see every kind of packaging per- mutation. Lastly, Rochioli reminds us that even with great planning, it's wise to "assume that some- thing is going to go wrong on bottling day." With strong vendor relationships, however, it's more likely that "something" will be minor and easily remedied. A common thread with all three winemakers is that they value planning. Doing it well is critical to their product quality and brand image, plus it avoids problems and saves money. A designer's perspective Cynthia Sterling is a principal and creative director of Sterling Cre- ativeworks in Napa, Calif. For more than 25 years she has been designing for the wine industry, including brand strategy and story development, naming, complete package design (shipper, capsule, glass, label), as well as websites and sales collateral, working with small boutiques and multi-na- tional corporations. Sterling points out that with so many things to know, the winery point person doesn't need to be the expert. He or she does need to ensure the experts are communi- cating with each other, however. For example, the designer needs a bottle drawing that provides label panel dimensions as well as the bottling line company's tolerances as to labeling, so that the label will Having all wine packaging materials delivered and ready before your bottling date will save time, money and the sanity of staff members and vendors.