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May 2017 WINES&VINES 45 PACKAGING Make your label memorable. Foil is a beautiful way to help make your product stand out from the competition. At Infinity® Foils, Inc., we offer the perfect foil products in the most sought after shades – for both hot and cold applications. Simply put, you won't find a better high- speed foil product for the label industry on the market. With multiple distribution centers, including Napa, CA, we're ready to fill any foil request quickly. Contact us for a free Shade Guide and see our brilliant choices. Quality products • No order minimums Competitively priced • Shop online 24/7 9 Distribution centers Brilliance is Remembered. Visit us at infinityfoils.com or call: 1 - 877 - 932 - 3645 or 1-913-888-7340 Protecting the product Wine closures are another consideration for winemakers. But unlike bottle color, our win- ery sources are not unanimous in their clo- sure choices. Lawer Estates chooses screwcaps to ensure their rosé's fresh, bright flavor remains that way. Winery spokesperson Meghan Snyder said it ensures flavors are captured inside the bottle for the longest time possible, with no risk of TCA contamination. She also mentioned that waitstaff in high-volume restaurants prefer the ease of the closure, as do many consumers. Screwcaps are less expensive than corks, and consumers can also easily enjoy their rosé out- side without the need for corkscrews. Carol Shelton also uses lined Stelvin screwcaps to stop the clock on aging, noting that rosés don't need any micro-ox aging, so, "Screwcap it is." Stelvin Lux-plus, with its sleek, invisible thread finish, and tin liner is Cass Winery's choice for youthful enjoyment. Pedroncelli also opts for Stelvin screwcaps, because its rosé is not meant to be aged. Toad Hollow also falls on the screwcap side, underscoring the approachability of all its "easy-drinking" wines. On the other hand, Finnella has stayed with a micro-agglomerated cork from Lafitte, the same as the winery uses in its red blend. But for the rosé, they opt not to use capsules, citing the belief that they would deduct from the aesthetics of the presentation, and cap- sules didn't work with the bottle style. Un- printed natural cork from M.A. Silva are iron-branded by hand on top. Despite restaurant requests for screwcaps, Pech Merle winery in Sonoma County stayed with its DIAM corks, opting for an updated design displayed through the flint glass. The winery, which once used a capsule, believes that the no-capsule presentation is a distin- guishing factor for the price point. Education on the bottle Since so many drinkers have grown accus- tomed to sweeter White Zinfandel wines, how do creators of dry rosés let buyers know what's inside their bottles? Surprisingly, few of our respondents go to extremes in labeling. Finnella individually names each of its wines: The rosé is branded "Bonebrick," to convey a certain level of dryness and help guide the consumer. With no special emphasis on the drier wine, the winery relies on trusting con- sumer knowledge of what they are buying. Most of the $20-per-bottle rosé is sold direct to consumer (DtC) through the website and word of mouth: People who've tried it at events and in restaurants are now seeking it out. Cass sells most of its rosé through the tast- ing room, where many are pleasantly surprised to find it a dry wine. The winery produces 400-500 cases of rosé annually out of its total 9,000 cases; the rosé sells for $24 per bottle. Pech Merle uses paper labels from Labeltro- nix, with a gray background and colored "stamps" to designated varietals. Its rosé is the namesake of founder/creative director Ivy Rose Hutton and emphasizes the limited quantity of the bottling. When the rosé was launched in 2011, only 150 cases were produced, but that's been scaled up to meet demand for a full-bodied, food-friendly wine that can be enjoyed in every season. Toad Hollow puts the term "dry" on both front and back labels and suggests suitable food pair- ings on the back label. With a widespread distri- bution network in every state, less than 2% is sold DtC. Retail price is $14.99 per bottle. "Finally the world has seen the light… and it is pink." —Carol Shelton, Carol Shelton Wines