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. 

New Tio Pepe En Rama most “intense” yet

Tio Pepe Fino En Rama is to return for a third year, and is set to be the most intense bottling yet, having been made from the best barrel from González Byass’ four ancient Tio Pepe soleras. As reported on thedrinksbusiness.com, production will be up slightly on last year’s 300 cases and will include a number of half bottles designed exclusively for the on-trade. The company decided to make the wine from its best four Tio Pepe barrels in homage to the 200th anniversary of founder Manuel María Gonzalez on 26 May.

The intensity of flavour is a result of a mild winter in Jerez, which has lead to the development of an extra thick protective veil of flor in the casks. “We’ll have an especially intense En Rama this year due to the mild winter and warm spring temperatures, and the special cask selection,” said winemaker Antonio Flores. “Despite racking off the wine a couple of weeks prior to bottling, the wine may have a stronger “haze” than the last edition,” he added.  

Described as “turbo-charged Tio Pepe” by González Byass’ marketing manager Jeremy Rockett, En Rama, loosely meaning “in its unrefined state”, is made from unfiltered Tio Pepe taken from the cask in spring when the flor is at its thickest. Without stabilisation, En Rama has a lifespan of just three months, and a mere three days after opening.

This year’s hand-drawn label, taken from the González Byass archives, is an old Sherry label from 1857 featuring a stylised grapevine surrounded by a red ribbon. Rockett believes the vintage labels have been a big contributing factor to the wine’s success: “The labels have almost become the message of the wine. “Our customers eagerly await the next release to see what we’ve dug up from the archive. Changing the label each year is part of its charm,” he said.

“At the niche end of the market you can get away with being less traditional and have some fun with your label designs, because consumers are buying on name,” he added. Tio Pepe En Rama will be available to taste at the London International Wine Fair at 11am on 22 May. UK deliveries will start on the same day. The wine is set to be bottled next week and will be priced at £13.99 a bottle.

Tio Pepe En Rama

Wine and the City chats to Jeremy Rockett of Gonzalez Byass about the launch of Tio Pepe En Rama at the London International Wine Fair 2011. Nearly double the amount of En Rama has been bottled this year, to meet demand after the Wine Society sold 100 cases in three days last year. The bottle also has a new red label, replacing last year's green.

Tales from Jerez

Last week I spent a couple of glorious days in Jerez with Gonzalez Byass. I was particularly excited about going as I lived in Granada whilst at university and haven't revisited Andalucía in six years.

After checking in, I head out with team GB for tapas at the very Spanish hour of 10pm. Striking upon an gem – honest and unpretentious, we sit outside on plastic chairs, drink copious amounts of Tio Pepe and eat the charmingly titled 'Scrambled to the Boots'.

Our boots filled, we stop by bar Kapote for an Amontillado before bed, and host Jeremy Rockett regales me with stories of Times food critic Giles Coren's outrageous exploits on a recent press trip to Portugal, which end in Charles Campion putting him in a headlock.

Before going to sleep, I open the door to my balcony and sit, soothed by the cool night air, watching the stars and listening to the trilling of the cidadas. Luxuriating in the moment, I feel totally transported – a rainy gray London sky to a blanket of stars in a matter of hours.

Shortly after sunrise, we troop onto a bus and are driven out to the Gonzalez Byass vineyards, just outside the Sherry triangle. Disembarking, we're given a few minutes to roam. The morning light over the vineyard is haunting. A layer of mist hangs on the horizon, and spreads across the vines like gauze. The sun is still low in the sky, and everything seems so fresh and full of hope.

Our next stop is the Gonzalez Byass bodega, complete with a fire engine red Tio Pepe train, which looks like it arrived in Jerez by way of the Magic Kingdom. The tour begins in La Concha, a shell-shaped room designed by Gustav Eiffel before he transformed the Parisian skyline, built in honour of la Infanta Isabella, the 'nymphomaniac' queen.

We shuffle on to the barrel room, and I go off in search of artists and writers. French poet Jean Cocteau describes Sherry as 'the blood of Kings' on his barrel, while Picasso illustrates his with a raging bull. In the far corner of the room is a Sherry glass with a tiny ladder leading up to it, set up for the infamous Tio Pepe mouse I'd heard so much about. He makes an appearance one in every five visits. We wait patiently, holding our breath. Nothing. The group moves on but I'm determined to catch a glimpse of the elusive rodent, certain he is close by.

I stand in the doorway in silence and wait, camera poised, finger on the button. After a minute or two, a tiny figure emerges from under the barrel and scurries across the sand. I frantically focus the camera and take a few snap shots of my brief encounter. A second later, he's gone.

After an epic lunch at Juanitos that includes chocos (fried cuttlefish), langoustines and the house speciality – scrambled egg and crisps, Jeremy and I take a detour to Bodegas Tradición to check out their impressive art collection, which includes works by Goya, Velazquez, Murillo and El Greco.

But the painting that will stay with me is that of a cocky bullfighter with a missing front tooth and a black pirate hat, leaning against a wall, cigar nonchalantly in mouth, a dagger ready for action in his blood red cummerband. His robes are so richly rendered, from the regal purple cape he's wrapped in, to the soft brown embroidered jacket and ornate floral waistcoat. It's such a vivid image he seems utterly alive, as if he could leap out of the frame at any moment and ask for a light.

Gonzalez Byass rare and old Sherry tasting

It’s mid afternoon and I’m being lead into a secret part of the Gonzalez Byass cellars in Jerez by winemaker Antonio Flores.

Joining us are Vicky Gonzalez Gordon, a 5th generation member of the Gonzalez family and UK marketing manager Jeremy Rockett. We’re here in search of an Amontillado with flor – a layer of yeast that forms naturally on the surface of young Sherry wines aged in barrels purposefully not filled to the top.

After the success of Tio Pepe En Rama – a Fino bottled in its raw state without fining or filtration, which launched at the London International Wine Fair this year and sold out in 30 minutes, the team is on the lookout for the next limited edition Sherry to bring to market.

Rockett suggests that a young Amontillado yet to lose all its flor could be next year’s En Rama, which would be bottled as Tio Pepe Pasado En Rama. Flores stops at a set of barrels. Brandishing a venencia, he dips it deep into the barrel and pours it swiftly at height into one of the tasting glasses with the grace of a bullfighter.

We all get a glass. It’s a wonderful golden colour but the flor has already fallen away so we swiftly move on. Two more attempts prove fruitless, but eventually we hit upon an exciting discovery: a seven-year-old Amontillado. Atop the golden liquid is a thick layer of flor. We may have found the next En Rama.

I’m tasked with filling the remaining glasses using the venencia. My hand-eye coordination is not all that it could be, and my first flourish ends up on the floor. I soon get the hang of it and rather enjoy more role as venenciadora. Jubilant from his discovery, Flores leads us to another secret cellar and fills our glasses with a 60-year-old Amontillado. In the muted light the copper wine glints like a new penny. It smells like a varnished desk. Full-bodied and with a long, nutty finish, it’s the most complex Amontillado I’ve ever tasted.

Flores paces up and down, looking for a particular barrel. Locating it, he plunges the venencia in. The Sherry is deep mahogany – a 100-year-old Palo Cortado. I let out an uncontrollable gasp. It’s incredibly intense and concentrated, but the oak is overpowering, and it’s like chewing on a log. Not all wines can stand the test of time.

Determined to show us an old wine still very much alive, our next barrel sample is one I will never forget; an Amontillado from 1850 made by the winery’s founder, Manuel María Gonazlez. Heady on the nose, it smells amazingly youthful for its 160 years, with notes of salted caramel and hazelnut. On the palate the acidity is astounding, paired with excellent body, weight and depth of flavour. The sandlewood finish remains hauntingly in the glass.

In our final clandestine barrel room deep in the bowels of the winery, we end with a trio of sweet Sherries. The first is a 25-year-old sweet Palomino, made and aged in the same way as a Pedro Ximenez. Tawny with a yellow rim, it has a Moscatel grape-like quality with a tropical fruit finish. The 75-year-old PX is as black as crude oil and equally thick, while the 85-year-old Moscatel has a lifted, floral quality and coffee finish. Our palates fatigued by the liquid history lesson, we follow Flores out of the barrel room and into the glaring sunlight, and I feel as if waking from a dream.