Retro design trend sweeps wine and spirits world

Wine and spirits brands are dipping back into their archives to communicate their history and heritage in response to a recession-led consumer desire for authenticity. As reported on db.com, Kevin Shaw, owner of design agency Stranger & Stranger, has seen a surge in demand for retro labels from clients including Jack Daniel’s.

“Retro says authenticity and harks back to a time when things were made with care by hand,” said Shaw, whose retro design for The Kraken Black Spiced Rum has been hugely well received. Housed in a Victorian flagon-style rum bottle with glass loop handles, the label features a monstrous squid swimming up the side. “Kraken is killing it. They have an online store where you can buy Kraken shower curtains, wallpaper, lamps, even Eau de Kraken perfume – I’m sure it’s all down to the old school charm of the brand,” Shaw said. 

Sherry brand González Byass started the retro trend two years ago, when it delved back into its archives to re-release the first ever Tio Pepe label on its limited edition Tio Pepe Fino En Rama line. This year’s En Rama, due to go on sale later this month, features a vintage Sherry label from 1857. The company continued the retro theme with its Palmas range of aged finos, released late last year.

“We went for retro labels because both En Rama and Palmas were resurrections of products that featured on our price lists in the 1800s,” said González Byass marketing manager Jeremy Rockett, adding, “the labels have been so well received they have almost become the message of the wines.”

Capitalising on the retro trend, Plymouth Gin has had a historical revamp, ditching its Art Deco skyscraper bottle in January in favour of an embossed flint glass bottle modelled on its original 18th century shape created by design agency Design Bridge. “The previous bottle failed to communicate the brand’s heritage, which is a major part of its DNA. We needed to bring the heritage back to the packaging,” said Paco Recuerdo, international brand director at Plymouth owners Chivas Brothers.

Legendary filmmaker-turned-winemaker Francis Ford Coppola has also borrowed from the past with his 3-litre “Carmine” wine jug. Named after his father and featuring sheet music written by him on the label, the jug is inspired by those stocked in Carmine’s cellar where Coppola would play as a child. 

Coppola releases first Inglenook since 1964

Filmmaker-turned-winemaker Francis Ford Coppola has released the first wine bearing the Inglenook label since the Napa Valley estate was broken up in 1964. As reported on db.com, a year ago, Coppola successfully reclaimed the Inglenook trademark so that his Rubicon Estate in Rutherford could revert back to its historic original name. At the same time, he hired winemaker Philippe Bascaules, previously of Bordeaux first growth Château Margaux, as estate manager and winemaker, with Stéphane Derenoncourt continuing as consultant winemaker for the estate.

Inglenook was founded in 1880 by Gustave Niebaum, a Finnish sea captain who used his enormous wealth to import the best European grapevines to Napa. The estate’s 1941 Inglenook Cabernet is considered one of the greatest Californian wines ever made. When Coppola first purchased part of the famed property in 1975 with his wife Eleanor, the Inglenook estate had long since been broken up and its name sold off. The Coppolas spent the next twenty years reuniting the vineyards and restoring winemaking to the historic estate.

The new retro label, designed by a retired US Mint artist, is almost an exact replica of the Inglenook Cabernet label from the late ‘50s, featuring the façade of the estate. The choice of the 2009 Cask Cabernet as the first wine to bear the new label is fitting. Cask Cabernet is a tribute to the Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon of the John Daniel, Jr. era during the ‘30s and ‘40s that spawned many of Inglenook’s greatest vintages ever produced. “When I tasted the 2009 vintage, I recognised the incredible potential of this property and understood Coppola’s desire to bring the quality of the wines to their fullest potential,” said Bascaules.

In keeping with the trend for authenticity reported earlier this week on Wine and the City, Inglenook’s estate wines will also return to their historical labels. The 2009 Cask Cabernet will be available in the US and other international markets in two weeks. In addition to the Cabernet Sauvignon, Inglenook is also planted with Zinfandel, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Syrah, along with three hectares of white Rhône varieties that produce the estate's flagship white, Blancaneaux.

Lot 18 goes live in the UK

The UK website of New York-based online wine merchant Lot 18 has gone live. As reported on thedrinksbusiness.com, Lot18.com, which launched in the US in November 2010, sources fine and rare wines worldwide for limited-time offers. Aimed at “aspiring wine connoisseurs looking to expand their knowledge,” the members only site, which raised US$45m in venture capital funding last year, has over 800,000 US members and 120,000 French members.

Working with over 550 wineries, offers on the US site typically last only 48 hours. Co-founder and president Philip James – who also founded wine ratings and reviews site Snooth.com ­– expects to build the UK site to 200 wineries in the next six months, but is keen not to inundate members with offers. “I thought it would work because your typical wine merchant is stuffy and intimidating for the average wine consumer. There’s also far too much choice. By telling us a bit about yourself we can cherry pick wines to suit your specific palate,” James told me at the London launch at Quo Vadis in Soho on Thursday.

“I chose the name because 18 is the legal drinking age in the UK – where I’m from, and it’s also considered a lucky number, meaning “lucky purchase” in Cantonese and “life” in Hebrew. I wanted it to evoke the excitement felt when winning an auction lot,” James added. With a constantly revolving stock, the site specialises in sourcing difficult-to-find parcels and prides itself on offering rare single bottles for sale.

Wines range from £10-100, but James (far left) calls the £10-20 bracket the site’s “sweet spot.” “We’re very much pushing the ‘get it while it’s hot’ idea to keep the excitement up. Our offers are only around for a couple of days, so when they’re gone, they’re gone,” he said. The UK site has launched with offers including Château Pontet Canet 1995 at £90 per bottle and Rubicon Estate Blancaneaux 2009 from Francis Ford Coppola’s Inglenook Estate in Napa at £42.50.

Wines from all around the world will be represented, with a strong leaning towards California, Washington, Oregon and the Finger Lakes in New York. The company’s buying team is made up of 15 sommeliers and Master of Wine students operating worldwide, who source wines for all three sites. James is looking to launch the site, which also offers gourmet food and epicurean-themed travel, in Germany, Spain and Northern Europe in the near future. Membership to Lot18.com is free.

Drew Barrymore wine

Hollywood starlet Drew Barrymore has joined the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Madonna, Dan Aykroyd and Antonio Banderas by launching her own wine, in a move that hints wine may be gaining ground on perfume as the next big celebrity trend.

As reported on thedrinksbusiness.com, Barrymore 2011 Pinot Grigio, Delle Venezie IGT, a 12% abv crisp, dry and fruity white, is made from grapes grown in the Veneto, Friuli and Alto Adige in northern Italy. Barrymore, known for her roles in films such as Charlie’s Angels, Never Been Kissed, 50 First Dates and E.T., said she wanted to create a “fresh, dynamic and fun” wine that reflected her style and personality.

“Wine is all about the journey, the discovery of new places and new varieties,” she said, adding, “I’m excited about sharing this Pinot Grigio with my friends and family and other wine lovers.” According to Barrymore’s California-based distributor, Wilson Daniels, the wine has a pale straw colour and offers hints of “fresh apricot and lively citrus flavours”.

The label – designed by street artist Shepard Fairey, creator of the famous 2008 red and blue Barack Obama “Hope” poster – features the Barrymore family crest. The wine, which is fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks, will launch in California at US$19.99 a bottle, before expanding its distribution across the US later in the year.

Wine in cans selling out Stateside

Young Americans are developing a thirst for wine in cans, according to Ben Parsons, owner of hip Denver-based urban winery The Infinite Monkey Theorem. Local retailers have been selling out of Parsons’ US$6.99 Sparkling Black Muscat in a 250ml can, emblazoned with the brand’s eye-catching monkey logo. The British-born winemaker launched the can last July with a reworking of the iconic Barack Obama blue-and-red “Hope” poster, with the tag line: “Yes, we canned.”

“I’ve always wanted to put wine in a can,” Parsons told thedrinksbusiness.com. “They’re user-friendly, recyclable, and cut through the pretension of wine. It’s a perfect fit for the brand.” Targeting the can at Millennial drinkers and generation X’s aged 21 to 40 has paid off. “It’s ideal for music venues, and I’m in talks with Virgin Atlantic to try and get it onto their in-flight wine list,” says Parsons, who admits the wine won’t age: “It’s got a one-year shelf life like any other can.”

The entrepreneurial winemaker is planning on going national and would like to take the can internationally in the near future, saying: “I’d love to see it in London nightclubs and vending machines in Tokyo, why not?” The stumbling block is its 250ml size, which is an illegal size for selling alcohol in some US states. “I’m petitioning to allow 250ml cans in all US states, it’s a crazy law,” says Parsons, who is about to unleash a canned sparking Syrah and Pinot Gris onto the market.

Surprisingly, given its peony pink colour and sweet flavour, Parsons has found the wine to be a huge hit with men, much to his delight. “I want to change people’s perception of wine and make them see it as an everyday drink. I’d like to see more producers put their wines in cans so it becomes more acceptable,” he says. The first US winemaker to offer wine in cans was forward thinking film director Francis Ford Coppola, who started selling sparkling wine Sophia Blanc de Blancs (named after his daughter), in hot pink 187ml cans in 2004.

Having enjoyed success in the US, Parsons is considering upping sticks and heading back to London to set up an urban winery somewhere suitably hip like Hackney or Shoreditch. “I could source top quality fruit from all over Europe and make a bunch of different wines. I’d like to open a casual dining restaurant beside the winery selling my wine on tap from kegs,” Parsons enthuses. If anyone can get Londoners drinking wine from a tap, he can.