Does the label matter?

Is it me or just how much wine is sold out there because of the label design as opposed to the quality of the juice thats in it? I have been a rep for a few years now and have sold some great wines that have some so-so labels and a lot (not all) of my accounts will not take in a wine if the label design is not good. Some have confessed that they dont care about the quality of the wine, that the price and label design are what matters.
I can also sadly say that I could easily compare my best selling wine to kool-aid, however, it had an interesting label so it flew off the shelves. Is is just what I have experienced personally, or is this the reality of the market these days? Any thoughts?

Alejandra Anderson newhere

Yes, very important for retail sales. People (esp. women) are very visual, and will choose something that makes them feel good, even if what’s inside is “evil and dirty!” ha ha

There have been many studies on this. Men buy more on points / reviews / scarcity. Women buy on labels, names.

No wonder we understand each other so well!

Cheers Alejandra!

Went into a store run by a Chinese woman in a Chinese community in NYC. Asked who bought the wine - she said that she did. It was one of the most eclectic groups of wines I’ve ever seen. So I let her taste some wine and she passed. Said it was sour. A week or so later I returned with more samples. Same thing. This went on for about six weeks and during that time we got to be pretty friendly.

I even showed her some sweet wine, which she also passed on, even though she liked it. Finally I asked how she had picked any of the wine in the store, since it was all “sour”. It’s wine after all.

She said that in the community, people didn’t really know wine and neither did she. But it was considered chic to take a bottle over to someone’s house when you were visting. So she bought based on the label. If it had beautiful colors, it would be an easy sell and she sold a lot of wine. But all based on the label and the beauty of the colors.

Taking it one step farther, we had a wine that we imported under 2 different labels. Exact same wine, same bottle, same everything, but the labels were different. One was black with some small red lettering indicating the variety, the brand, etc. The other labels were solid colors with white lettering, but the colors were very bright and there was a different color for each variety. In the Hispanic community there was no contest. Every time I offered the wine, they took the black labels without hesitation, complimenting me on the great label.

Nobody else wanted them. One high-volume store took both labels and put them on the shelves side by side. He liked the black but his kids liked the colored labels and they decided to test them. The colors outsold the black better than 2 to 1. The colors just made it really easy to remember the wine, both for customers and shop owners. They’d order two cases of yellow, six cases of blue, five cases of orange, and so on.

So yeah - labels REALLY matter.

And in some communities, if it says “Latour” on the label, that helps too.

One of my favorite wineries in Santa Ynez has rather ugly labels - red lettering on a black background. Very hard to read. That’s got to hurt their sales in a store.

Yeah baby! Now that’s what I’m talking about! [dance-clap.gif]

I think two important factors are neighborhood and target audience.

My shop is in a pretty wealthy area and when my customers spend $25-$50 on a bottle of wine to serve at their next dinner party or bring to a friend’s house they want the label to be classy, elegant, and more often than not, understated. Bright colorful labels don’t go over well around here and can be a very hard sell. The same for labels that look like they were designed by the winemaker’s teenage daughter after she got an “A” in her 10th grade art class. Years ago I fell in love with a wine from the Washington State winery L’Ecole No. 41, bought a bunch but couldn’t sell it for love or money. Haven’t bought it since. I also won’t buy wine from a tiny Zinfandel producer in Sonoma who took great offense when I told him (tactfully, I thought) that his wine was terrific but that he might want to give some thought to cleaning up his label a bit.

On the other hand … I’ve got a friend with a wine shop across the Bay from mine who says his customers don’t give damn what the label looks like as long as the wine tastes good and doesn’t cost more than $15.00.

I spent a while in the art business before getting into wine and so I’m very visually inclined. Having worked in both on and off premise I have noticed label designs that work in either venue.

It seems that wineries that aim their market more toward on-premise restaurant sales tend to go toward more refined labels and often go for dark colors, especially black, which look good on tables in restaurants. Notice the number of high-end cabernets with embossed labels etc. like the ridiculous new Rubicon bottle. There is a certain consumer that cares a lot about people noticing what’s on their table (especially here in Dallas).

Unfortunately, these designs are often terrible in wine shops because they vanish in racks. If you look across a row of wine racks the black labeled wines look like the missing teeth in a hockey player’s smile. Browsing customers will skip right over them without noticing them and go for a white label or a colored one quite often. Of course, higher priced wines are often separated from the main inventory where a slicker looking bottle design has less competition and more of a wow factor. A perfect example would be the distinctive white label/capsule Chappellet Signature bottle vs. the flashy black PHEV bottle.

I would expect that this has been carefully studied by marketing folks, what hasn’t, and they know their target market when they design the bottle/label. It’s interesting that many of the most successful commercial brands have very distinct packaging that is easily recognizable at a distance (Silver Oak Alex, Caymus, Rombauer, Cakebread, Sonoma Cutrer, Duckhorn). They all seem to have found designs that look good on tables yet stand out from a crowded lineup of wines. It obviously works for them because they aren’t selling because of the superior juice in the bottle. The same is true in the heavily marketed world of Champagne where very few Growers can match the slick package designs of houses like Roederer, P-J or Veuve Clicquot.

I think label design matters a great deal. I run the wine list for a restaurant and used to work for a distributor. When I bring three or four bottles to a table for their consideration, I have a pretty good idea which one they will choose. Older male guests seem to prefer a white label with clear easy to read print. Many of our female guests seem to purchase wines with animal themed names and labels (Duckhorn, Frogs Leap, etc.). Younger male guests seem to buy wines in the large ego bottles ( ok not label, but still packaging ). Obviously these are generalizations.

When I was in the distribution end of things, the Yellowtail inspired animal labels moved really briskly in the groceries and the wine in the bottle was irrelevant. The cuter the label, the better it sold. Also popular were tree themed labels.

Byron Pinot moved much better after they changed their label. So did Justin. I cannot give away Foley Claret due to the incredibly negative reaction to the label.

You mean like this? Good wine. Bad label. [snort.gif]

Read a bit on work of Louis Cheskin. He worked in CPG and proved on more than a few occasions that to most consumers a product is the package + its contents, not just the contents or functionality.

I have no doubt this happens in wine, and would consider a person’s knowledge of the bottle’s romance/story/pedigree often part of the “package” too.

FWIW, I think Far Niente’s label is one of the worst I’ve ever seen, but there must be something going on related to perceived value since the wines are so expensive.

My wife has been known to let me buy more of a wine if it has a pretty label.

I’ll take anything I can get.

As someone who has been buying and drinking wine for 35 years, I don’t think I’m all that affected by the label. In fact, I rarely see the label when I buy since I mostly buy on the Internet. But every time I look at a Foley label (who’s wines I really like) I think WTF? WTF were you thinking?

And Bob is so different from that label. They should change their label to a photo of his friendly face, or of his wife’s pretty and friendly face. I bet they would sell a lot more wine.

Don’t tell me a lot more women wouldn’t buy his wine with this label:





Or men with this label:
(The woman on the left, not the man on the right!)

Or your gender of preference as applicable.

Instead of this label:

That guy on the right is Robert Zahn aka “BZ” the most successful wine rep in MA. He is also a hell of a nice guy… and happens to share KVastola’s taste for barolo!

Just a bit of trivia… [highfive.gif]

Exactly the winery I had in mind. How you see that in a wine store I’ll never know.

I would think label is a more important factor for the general public/novices buying wine, and not so much to the members of this board (who are a minority).

The answers are in the thread.

To some people, it doesn’t matter at all.
To some people, it can drive a sale.
Some stores see a response to a label design, others do not.

So the question is why would a winery (or any business) overlook potential business by having either a crappy, or at least indifferent, label design?

I was wondering the same so this is precisely why I posted this thread!

Hmmm. . .labels. . .

Truth? They matter more than they should from a retail perspective. However, is that such a bad thing? Let’s be honest with each other; how many times have we all been caught in a dusty aisle, in the back of a wine shop with two intriguing bottles in our hands and only the budget for one? What do we do at this point? Me, I pick the more attractive of the labels. I believe that you can decipher subtle cues (and at times, not so subtle) as to what’s in the bottle from how the winery/winemaker/importer decides to dress the bottle. For instance, does the label look like an etching? Is the picture of a vineyard? A chateau? Is the label devoid of image, but simplistic and featuring antiquated script? I assume these types of labels are designed to equate their products with more traditional flavors, techniques, styles, philosophies and intent. On the flipside, does the label feature bold colors (and are specific colors linked to specific varietals. . .always the mark of a quality wine)(kidding), are there cute animals on the label, is a pun involved in the title (as in. . .seven deadly zins, cardinal zin, it’s zinfully delicious, zin it to win it, etc.)(ok, I made those last two up)(but I waited soooo long to use them)? I assume these types of wines reflect their labels. I expect the wines to be fun, flamboyant, simple and easily enjoyed, but without the need for any contemplation. Not bad wines. Just not my type of wines.

Is this a fool-proof method? Nope. I still get surprised by wines. Some traditional labels house some very “new age” wines and vice versa, but it is the best method I have discovered so far.

Also, I think its important to remember that although wine consumption in this country is on the rise, most people don’t have the time, inclination, interest or culture to invest in wine knowledge. It is easier to navigate the scary imported wine aisles of the local retailer according to label style, than it is to actually do the research. And that is in no way a criticism, just an observation. If everyone learned about wine, I would be out of a job.

So, in short. . .yep, I think you are dead on about labels being a big deal. But, I guess I am in support of that.

By the way. . .is this THE Alejandra Anderson? Keeper of the tightly wound “Ars Epica”?