Wines & Vines

October 2016 Bottles and Labels Issue

Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/732978

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 7 of 83

8 WINES&VINES October 2016 A member of Wine Communications Group Inc. President & Publisher Chet Klingensmith Chairman Hugh Tietjen Publishing Consultant Ken Koppel Associate Publisher Tina Vierra Publishing Assistant Tiffany Maxwell EDITORIAL Editor Jim Gordon Managing Editor Kate Lavin Senior Editor Andrew Adams Senior Correspondent Paul Franson Contributing Editor Jane Firstenfeld Northwest Correspondent Peter Mitham Columnists Grapegrowing: Cliff Ohmart and Glenn T. McGourty Contributing Writers Laurie Daniel, Richard Smart, Richard Carey, Chris Stamp, Andrew Reynolds, Craig Root, Ray Pompilio, Andy Starr, Fritz Westover Practical Winery & Vineyard (PWV) Editor Don Neel Wine East Editor Linda Jones McKee DESIGN & PRODUCTION Graphic Designer Rebecca Arnn Design & Production Bridget Williams DATABASE DEVELOPMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Vice President—Data Management Lynne Skinner Project Manager Liesl Stevenson Database & Web Development James Rust, Peter Scarborough EDITOR'S LETTER WHILE THE CRUSH PADS AND FERMENTATION CELLARS of North America are humming with activity in October, work also continues at a fast pace in the administrative offices of most wineries. Sales goals for 2017 need to be set, budgets completed and prepara- tions for the next bottling dates made. Sometimes the high-priority items on a winery's to-do list as one year winds down include creating a new and/or improved packaging scheme for the next year. That's why October is a good time for the annual Bottles & Labels issue of Wines & Vines. For this month's cover story, contributing editor Jane Firstenfeld decided to go dark in her research and writing about bottles and labels. It seems that suddenly, black or dark designs are the rage. Everywhere you look on a supermarket or liquor store shelf, dark labels catch the eye due to their stark contrast with traditional off-white labels. A strong hint about this trend came at the 2015 Wines & Vines Packaging Conference, when a presentation by Steve Lamoureux of The Nielsen Co. included images of new dark or black labels by U.S. brands Beringer, Columbia Crest, Cameron Hughes, Chalk Hill and Sterling. Alongside them was the emotionally dark image on the already established wine label of The Prisoner, which some believe was the cata- lyst for the brand's huge success. As the cover story was coming together, each week brought the announcement of a new dark brand or black label, the latest being a new 12-varietal lineup of $10.99 wines from Robert Mondavi Private Selection. (Read what prompted the change in our Question of the Month on page 6.) Black is not just a color (or lack thereof) but a theme in brand names, as well. A few that come quickly to mind are Authentic Black, Apothic Dark and Opaque. These also refer to a wine style that is very dark in color and presumably deep in flavor. What makes these brands and color schemes appealing? Firstenfeld interviewed packaging designers, printers and papermakers to see why so many wineries are going black. Learn more by reading her article on page 36. In the same vein of design, this issue also celebrates five winners in the Wines & Vines Packaging Design Awards, presented during the recent 2016 W&V Packaging Conference. Turn to page 46 to find the details. Another aspect of wine packaging is the TTB requirement to state the percentage of alcohol by volume (ABV) on the bottle. While it has long been assumed that wineries often fudged the numbers, which is allowed to a point in federal regulations, the extent of fudging has rarely been assessed. Until now. Go to page 56 to read how three educators did some classic data gathering and analysis on label alcohol information. They found that out of a huge sample of 91,432 individual wines sold in Ontario, Canada, about five-eighths under-reported their ABVs, and the other three-eighths over-reported. As the authors sug- gest in their conclusion, "The wide error tolerances provided by current U.S. law took effect in 1949. Perhaps it is time to review that policy." Thanks for picking up this issue of Wines & Vines. If you are one of those people on the crush pad or in the fermentation room and can't draw an extra breath until crush is over, we'll understand if you read these pages later, after you get some rest. —Jim Gordon Everywhere you look on a supermarket or liquor store shelf, dark labels catch the eye due to their stark contrast with tradi- tional off-white labels. CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS Email: subs@winesandvines.com Online: winesandvines.com/subscribe Phone: (866) 453-9701 EDITORIAL Email: edit@winesandvines.com MAIL 65 Mitchell Blvd., Suite A San Rafael, CA 94903 CONNECT WITH US facebook.com/WinesandVines twitter.com/WinesandVines youtube.com/WinesandVines1919 Dark is the New Black for Wine Packaging

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Wines & Vines - October 2016 Bottles and Labels Issue