Tag Archives: wine labels

A label as rare as the wine itself.

Pinot Noir produced in the Santa Rita Hills of Santa Barbara County is some of the finest produced anywhere in the world. Uniquely their own style, the wines are rich, with hints of minerals, tobacco leaf, pepper, red cherry, and strawberry fruit.

Windrun produced a limited production of 2013 SRH Pinot Noir to burnish the winery’s already good reputation with wine writers and knowledgeable consumers. They asked the group at MOI to come up with a label as classic as the wine itself.

It is rare to see a wine label that is nearly all black. Using beautifully fluid letterforms, a vine drawn by renowned illustrator Tom Hennessey, and simple typography and color, we created a label of simple bespoke elegance. The most recent label printing technologies produced a mirror-like finish. Gold foil stamping, and rich, warm, colors help to give the label a stunning presence.

The new design ties to the brand’s primary labels by sharing elements, but treats them in a new fashion, creating a minimal, elegant, and distinguished label, worthy of the wine within.

How to make a wine standout in a crowded store aisle.

Windrun Wines

WIndrun Wines is a boutique Santa Barbara County-based négociant solely focused on producing select Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines sourced from the finest vineyards in California. Their mission is to provide high-quality wines at everyday prices. Possessing a clear understanding of who they were as a company, WIndrun requested a brand relaunch that would fuel the wine’s recognition on a store shelf.

What wine should one buy? How does a consumer make that decision? Do they buy by the label appearance, by price, by recommendation, or by knowledge? What grabs attention in a confusing and over-saturated wine aisle? Understanding how this process works and then creating a brand that stands out is what MOI did for Windrun.

The creative process began after researching and assessing the competition, analyzing consumer and industry studies, and surveying key distributors and brokers. Visual cues were explored and developed that positioned Windrun as a friendly, easy-to-approach purchase and a high-value premium wine. Divergence from the competition and overall simplicity were the keys to the design. The type selected was elegant while a friendly color palette set the contrast to competing brands. Extraneous elements were not included, and an austere, super-premium look was strictly avoided. The label was printed with flexography which provided superior reproduction at an affordable price.

The distinctive label has been well-received and had the desired effect of bringing greater notice to the wines. Nothing makes a wine shopper happier than discovering a great bottle of wine for a good price. But first they have to see it.

Wine label design: Flying goats and floating bubbles.

Humor can be a great salesman (and the the packaging for the wine industry could certainly use some design levity).

Two pet pygmy goats, named Never and Epernay, loved to jump from heights. With their unrestrained spiral loops, flipper turns and straight-legged leaps they were a constant source of entertainment. When choosing a name for his new brand of Santa Barbara County wines, Norman Yost wanted to project fun, enjoyment, and happiness. Norm is a playful spirit so he opted to name it after his flying kids, Flying Goat Cellars.

When it came to his all natural sparkling wines, with a wry sense of humor Norm called them “Goat Bubbles.” He gave the packaging design and branding team at MOI (Mark Oliver, Inc.) poetic license to come up with innovative wine labels. With a name like that, the graphic design was pretty obvious. We put a goat illustration within its own bubble, each goat positioned a little differently in each bubble, all of them floating up from the bottom of their bottles. The creative result is playful and an unusual design solution as well.

Goat Bubbles

The four-part label is unique from a wine label production standpoint, too. The printer had never created a multiple element label of this complexity and tests were conducted to assure the label film would adhere properly during production. Finally, each of the wines has a hand-dipped colored wax crown that matches the label color. The result? Adults love it. The kids, too.