In-House & Industry
News Bulletin

Wilder on Wine: Do judge these wines by their labels

Published by The Nashville City Paper
By Courtney Wilder
Thursday, March 19, 2009

Many of my customers at the wine store often say (somewhat apologetically), "I always just choose based on the label!" Wine producers and marketers around the globe have caught on to the rewards a cool label can reap, and today shelves brim with cleverly designed bottles. But how can you tell which meld style and substance?

Some labels are more than simply good looking or cutesy; there's an intelligence behind the packaging, a palpable hipness, and a visual interest that places them above simple marketing fodder.

The leader on this front is definitely R Wines, a project helmed by superstar winemaker Chris Ringland and Grateful Palate Imports founder Dan Philips. With many of the design commissions going to noted artists, it's not surprising that the labels are innovative and appealing.

You may be familiar with their wines already — it's hard to miss them on the shelf. There's the Bitch, with its baby pink-colored oval filled with black hearts and daggers; the Luchador, featuring a comic book style Mexican wrestler; the Strong Arms, bearing an illustration that pays homage to the creepy Victorian style of Edward Gory; and the Boarding Pass, which looks like, well, an airline boarding pass.

And those are just the wines that have been on the market for a while; R Wines has many exciting projects in the works. I highly recommend visiting the Grateful Palate Web site (gratefulpalateimports.com) to see some of the latest designs (and if you consider yourself a bacon aficionado, you must skip over to their artisanal food section and bear witness to the awesome Bacon-of-the-Month club at gratefulpalate.com).

The best thing about R Wines? They are more than just a hip exterior. The creativity that goes into these wines' packaging is matched by what's in the bottle. The wines, almost all from Australia with a few California offerings, are bold and fun, as colorful and modern as the package. Some critics drop the dreaded f-bomb ("Fruit Bomb") when describing them, but with such gregarious packaging, would it make sense if the wines weren't loaded with what admirers deem unctuous, hedonistic fruit and a velvety smooth, rich texture? The company aims to deliver wines of pleasure, and that's what these wines are: high-quality, fruit-forward wines that say "Take a break from all that wine world jargon; just sit back and enjoy."

Brand mastermind Dan Philips was kind enough to answer some of my questions about the inspiration that goes into designing R Wines, both in and outside the bottle.

Wilder on Wine (WW): How do you pick the artists to create your R Wines labels, and what is the collaborative process like? Dan Philips (DP): I read magazines, keep up on popular culture, talk to designers, read design magazines, watch TV and movies. Great design happens when there’s a spark and then creative explosion between the designer and me. I know how things taste and designers know how things look. When you put them together you have sexy time.

WW: Has taking risks with design and marketing paid off in the ways you hoped they would? DP: Yes, but I don’t see it as taking risks. I see it as communicating with like-minded people. And, payoff is not how I see it. Making people happy and inspired and creating value is what drives me.

WW: Any projects in the works that you are particularly excited about? DP: We have three new projects. A wine called Mod is based on Mod culture like The Who and The Jam, designed by a Mod-obsessed designer named Dave Bravenac. It is one of the most striking labels we have. It is very Mod, but the wine in it is made in a very old-fashioned, traditional way. It is a great contradiction but ironic and perfect.

[Vice President of Marketing and Design] Beth Elliott created a sparkling wine called Punk Bubbles inspired by Punk culture from the '70s and my desire to comment on the ultra-luxury, super-expensive Champagnes we all take for granted as being the best bubbly, but are they?

I invented a line called Darby & Joan as an antidote to the economic crisis we’re all suffering right now. They are wine as comfort food. I asked the question, what would hope taste like? How can wine create confidence and happiness? We came up with an under-$10 chardonnay and cabernet, the varietals that made Napa and American wine famous, and that I grew up drinking. They are juicy, easy to drink, familiar and delicious and way over-deliver for the price. Jeff Keedy designed the label to evoke the feel of the iconic handmade quilts and the pleasure we get from a box of candy like the famous Whitman sampler and the warmth of a cozy, worn, comfortable sweater we all have.

WW: What is your favorite R Wines label design? DP: That’s like asking which is my favorite child. Each label is designed with a purpose and is only released when it has achieved a magical synthesis of flavor, feeling and style. They all complement different parts of our world, for different moments, at different times, with different people. Wine is so much more simple and pleasure-giving and meaningful than the snooty sommeliers have led us to believe. Wine should be as fundamental a part of our every day life and as easy to understand as a cup of coffee or a piece of pie. Paul Davis's labels [for the Australian Pinot Noir "Permutations," which features 24 different labels done in a quirky, sketchy, almost stream-of-consciousness style] are easily amongst my favorite labels of all time, along with all of our other labels.

WW: If we're drinking R Wines wines with our eyes, what do you hope it tastes like? DP: Love, hope, desire, ecstasy, loss, passion, inspiration, comfort, cheap thrills, pink, childish innocence, a warm spring rain, Hugh Jackman on the Oscars, Girl Scout cookies.