Ocean Vibes: a Cabernet Sauvignon produced in South Africa

I’ve always thought people who print and make #packaging often don’t work closely enough with creatives.

I wanted to share what I’ve learned from a project we started with a design @njucomunicazione to represent a range of different regional wine labels. That project has not only confirmed why creatives matter so much, but it has also given me much more. It has opened my eyes to a world I thought I knew already, but which in fact turned out to be much more complex. Ordering wine in a restaurant is very different for me now.

As an Italian, I’ve always lived with some amazing local wines. What I hadn’t quite grasped is how many things influence those wines. Did you know, for example, there are four different climate levels to think about? Those are macroclimate for the whole region, mesoclimate for the vineyard, topoclimate for a particular topography, and microclimate affecting areas as small as different bunches of grapes.

Anyway…‘Ocean Vibes’ is one of the labels we created together, and it shows how we worked to understand and show all of the influences on the wine, from climate all the way through to human factors.

We chose this cabernet sauvignon wine to represent South Africa. The Bordeaux cabernet sauvignon grape arrived in South Africa perhaps two centuries ago, and it’s now the country’s most planted red wine variety.

The big question was: how could we really get to grips with and pay respect to such a long and important legacy? The answer lay in making a star of the Constantia terroir, and touching on lots of other factors too. The Constantia region – I now know – has Quartenary sediments with sandy, organic-rich soils. It would also have a Mediterranean climate, but it’s cooled by the nearby oceans and the Benguela current. The region’s mountains create a rain shadowing effect, and there are microclimates from localized breezes and winds.

That’s a lot to get on a label! My first instinct would have been to show the actual region, but those instincts were soon turned around by the agency who thought we should be much braver. ‘Ocean Vibes’ uses a set of abstract symbols to highlight all of the different aspects behind this fruity wine, which tastes of black fruits and oak flavors with a hint of dark chocolate, vanilla, and cinnamon.

As part of the Motherland project, in which we started to highlight what can be achieved by working with the right mix of professionals, ‘Ocean Vibes’ is one of my favorites in the Motherland collection of labels.

This label works at the simplest level – it’s good to look at. But it also hints at all of the many stages in the wine’s journey from planting the vines to harvesting and maturing the wine itself.

Of course, the design of a label is just the beginning. Avery Dennison’s rCrush label material gave us the chance to use a face stock made with 15 percent grape waste, along with 40 percent FSC-certified recycled paper – making our own contribution to the circular economy.?

The leading print machinery Nilpeter was behind the technology we used to achieve breathtaking print quality, on our fat bed unit FP4. And H+M GmbH & Co was instrumental in helping us to create unique embellishments using hot stamping.

Now, imagine handing over artwork files for this label to a printer who has no idea what the symbols represent or how/why they express some unique values. Then imagine, instead, a printer who has been involved in the process and can make great suggestions on the face material, embellishments and so much more.

The different outcomes are not actually hard to imagine, and we are more determined than ever to drive All4Labels further towards a collaboration of this kind. Our external partners make us stronger, and only making the best of all the talents will be good enough when each bottle of the wine emerges from so much effort from so many people.

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