When designing a wine label, there are certain requirements that must be included on all South African wine labels. This is necessary for approval from the Wine and Spirit Board of South Africa. However, once these requirements are met, your creativity can be unleashed to design labels that are appealing to your target audience.

There are many particulars that are certified by the Wine and Spirits board but the most important of these for consumers are origin, cultivar, vintage, and alcohol percentage. ‘Certified Wine’ means wine produced in terms of provisions of the Wine of Origin Scheme. The South African Wine of Origin Scheme is based on the French Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) system. This scheme was instated to recognize and protect the distinctive qualities that wine derives from certain areas, estates and grape varieties.

Wine of Origin Seal

• Origin: This certifies that the wine drives 100% from the particular area of origin
• Estate: The wine is made on the estate from grapes grown on the estate
• Vintage: At least 85% of the wine is made from grapes harvested in the year indicated
• Cultivar: The wine contains the required minimum percentage of 85% of the varietal indicated on the body of the label, and its characteristics of the variety in appearance, smell and taste.

Designing a wine label in order to attract your target audience, it is critical to define that audience as well as their needs. The catch comes in to design a label that not only attracts attention but also not to deter a much larger group of potential consumers.

When a consumer sees your product on the shelf, you only get a second or two to make an impression. Your label must steal the attention away from the competition. The answer sound simple: design a label that is big, bright and loud. Unfortunately it is not as simple as that because most traditional wine consumers think of wine as stylish, sophisticated and elegant.

Most of the traditional wine consumers find European styles of wine labels very appealing. Normally engraved styles of illustration are used in European labels to depict the estate’s manor house with contemporary typefaces. There is however a new generation of wine drinkers that is attracted to fun, innovative wine labels. These days we see names such as “Goats do Rhone” and “Fat Bastard” that would have been unthinkable just a few years back. This emerging trend of more creative wine label is producers’ way of pushing the envelope to be more competitive in this saturated market.       

Wine labels should be an expression of the vision and mission of your brand. You must be able to explain, discuss and present a clear vision of your brand to your sales team and graphic designers. Therefore, a wine label should be unique and different, yet attractive to consumers in a very traditional industry.