When selling a product or service it’s important that your branding and design say the right thing about your business. Sometimes you will have to say a lot with very little space. This got me thinking about the how difficult this can be in industries like alcohol where ads are restricted and the market is so competitive. Wine labels, for example, are small and have to provide certain information, while showing the consumer why they are unique.
I regularly succumb to the manipulative powers of strong branding and choose a wine based on the label. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, when the image or style of the product is effectively conveyed in the packaging it can help consumers to make choices.
So, here are five random wines that I picked based on their labels and ended up with some new favourites. The image, message or character of the wine, or the producer, is carefully and successfully represented through the branding and design.
Calusari 
This is the sort of wine that a decent restaurant might have as a house option, yet the label has a more premium feel. It looks like a much more expensive wine, sort of grown up. The label pushes the idea that what’s inside the bottle will be worth more than the price tag suggests, and it’s not wrong.
Domaine B
aumard
These wines have elegant, understated labels, making you think more about the wine within than distracting you with bold or abstract design. It led me to thinking that the wine would be complex and layered where its label was simple and reserved.
Luis Cañas
This is a family business with several generations involved in the running, where the traditional methods of the older generations merge seamlessly with the modern twists of the younger generation. Here they have two images, the ‘family selection’ wine is text-book Rioja depicted by a serious and more traditional style label whereas labels on other more modern styles in the range have sections boxed off with contemporary fonts, almost like the craft beer labels you’d see from Brew Dog or Tempest.
Felicette
This funky looking little wine is delicious and unusual. The label has had a huge impact on consumers with Felicette becoming so popular the space cat has a successful Twitter following and seems to pop up all over the place. This label is all about impact; the design is even continued on the boxes where the pictures match up to create striking floor displays. It works.
Alemany I Corrió
The winemakers, Irene and Laurent, are absolutely lovely; they make seriously good wines but don’t take themselves too seriously. This wine is named after a children’s nursery rhyme, for no outwardly apparent reason. The bright, cheery label has instant shelf appeal; even if it’s not to everyone’s taste it’s still undeniably eye-catching.
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