Craft & Cork >> Winemaking

One of the greatest joys for craft winemakers is sharing their wine with family and friends.  And, when family and friends rave about the wine, the joy turns into euphoria.  You have taken great care to make sure the liquid in your bottle is perfect.  You choose a top quality kit and a popular varietal.  Then, you crafted the kit with utmost care – either with a wine making retailer or at home. But, did you know that when you serve your wine to guests, they will form an impression of what it tastes like even before you open the bottle?

The label on your bottle of wine tells the drinker more than just which grapes were used, where it was made and by whom.  People will form an opinion about the quality of the wine just by looking at the label design.  A carefully crafted label can convince someone that the wine is more (or less) premium (or expensive) than it is and, if the drinker likes the label, it will even enhance his or her enjoyment of the wine itself.   Several studies have shown that the more someone likes the wine label, the more they like the wine.  Commercial wine companies have big budgets dedicated to label design for a reason!

According to David Schuemann in his book 99 Bottles of  Wine, people often associate minimalist, uncluttered designs with premium vintages with complex flavours.  According to Schuemann, labels associated with premium wine tend to have a cream or white back ground with a simple design and/or logo – perhaps with a splash of gold.

Younger (Millennial) wine drinkers tend to gravitate towards more eye catching wine labels with lots of colour.  Psychologists believe that people associate certain colours with specific emotional reactions. We are attracted to bright colours because they encourage positive feelings that make us feel happy – and we transfer those feelings to the wine.

As craft winemakers, we have several options when it comes time to labeling our wines.  Oftentimes wine kits have labels included, and these labels are professionally designed to reflect the style of the wine, whether it is a premium wine like En Primeur Winery Series or a fun and fruity wine like Orchard Breezin’.  Many craft winemakers choose to make their own labels and the best Craft Winemaking stores, like the RJS Craft Winemaking Academy stores, provide their customers with numerous label designs that can be customized in store with personal information about the wine. And for those who are particularly creative, there is always the option of designing your own labels from scratch and printing them at home or in a store.

We all know the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”.  But, when it comes to wine, the reality is that people tend to judge it based on the label, even before the wine is opened.  So, when choosing (or designing) a label for your craft wine, take as much care with what is on the outside of the bottle as you did with what is inside!