Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/877508
October 2017 WINES&VINES 35 BOTTLES &LABELS Shopping online and on shelves brought us to recognize this rotation, later confirmed by packaging designers and their clients. Shiny is definitely in. Shimmery papers, precious-metal inks screen-printed onto bottles, transparent inks on silver stock, metallic and holographic foils are all popular, according to Sara Nelson at Sara Nelson Design in Kennewick, Wash. Wineries seem to be craving texture: deep, luscious embosses, textured stock, super-matte varnishes contrasted with high-gloss varnishes and even high-build varnishes, she said. European wine producers are not usually considered pioneers of modern packaging. However, French emigrée Jean-Charles Boisset, owner of the Boisset Collection that includes Raymond Vineyards, DeLoach Vineyards, Buena Vista Winery and JCB, has demonstrated he has fully adapted to the North American wine industry, introducing some seriously avant garde wine packages. Raymond Vineyards is a 300,000-case pro- ducer in St. Helena, Calif. To mark its 40th an- niversary, Boisset and his design team devised a textured "red velvet" label for the 2014 Re- serve Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, the very epitome of tactile labels, with a tag line "the dress code is red velvet." This design won the People's Choice award in the recent Wines & Vines Packaging Design Awards (see page 42). Three wines from the historic, 54,000- case Buena Vista in Sonoma pay tribute to the winery's founder, Agoston Haraszthy, with metal labels including a star-shaped badge for "Sheriff." With his creative team, Boisset himself designs "bejeweled" labels for Buena Vista's popular "Revenge" red blend. The metal and bedazzled labels are manufactured in coordi- nation with Atlanta's Margot Townsend. These eye-catching and touch-inducing labels rep- resent a major financial commitment. Megan Long, Boisset Collection communications manager, reports that they cost between $9 and $13 per bottle for front and back labels, depending on quality and quantity. The win- ery builds its own jigs and molds to provide consistent application. "It's a difficult process that takes more time to apply than regular labels, so there is added labor cost," she noted. Labels for Matua's 2016 Sauvignon Blanc and rosé vintages have been released to shelves in the United States. Although Matua is a New Zealand producer (normally out of our coverage area) it's owned by Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), which owns numerous U.S. brands and wineries. J ust a year ago, wine labels with a dark background were all the rage. They're still out there, but the newest looks emphasize texturized, metal-accented designs. As in the fashion industry, packaging turns in cycles. KEY POINTS Forward-looking designers have turned to shimmery labels and creative use of metals in wine packaging. Extreme examples of innovation include Buena Vista's bejeweled bottles and tem- perature-sensitive labels for Treasury's Matua brand. Screen printers and label stock makers are ahead of the trend with capabilities for me- tallic inks and paper with the latest tex- tures and shines.