Last night the inaugural Wine Label Design Awards, sponsored by Rotolabel, were hosted by Winemag.co.za at Beau Constantia, a relatively unknown wine estate very close to Constantia Nek, with a most beautiful view over the Constantia Valley.

We were served a welcome drink of Villiera Tradition Brut MCC, and welcome water, it being a very hot day.  I sat outside, to catch some of the cool breeze, and chatted to Wendy Appelbaum of DeMorgenzon, and Adam Mason of Marvelous.  Attendees were mainly related to award winning wine labels, with some wine writers in attendance too.

John Pace from At Pace Design & Advertising acted as MC, and said that through the new Wine Label Design Awards the bar was being raised for wine label design. Rotolabel MD Wicus Maritz used an unlabeled bottle as an example of how such a bottle is bland and is not a brand.  The minute a white label is placed on it, the monotony is broken, and it stands out from other unlabeled bottles.  He then wrote the words ‘Red Wine’ on the label, and said that it now described what was inside the bottle, and that it was not white wine, olive oil, or any other liquid.  Designers have the challenge to use the ‘canvas of creative expression‘ to excite the senses of the buyer and wine drinker, creating an expectation and anticipation.  He said that his company is passionate about printing wine labels, and they love it when designers and wine estate owners come to their factory and express the ‘wow‘ when they see the finished product, usually exclaiming that it looks even better than they imagined. The new Awards promote design excellence in wine labels.  He ended off his talk with the first lines of the John Keats poem ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever‘.

Christian Eedes said that he had been thinking about a wine label design competition for the past ten years.  At Case had designed the competition logo.  He had found that so many wine labels are average at best. His business partner Jacqueline Lahoud had organised the sponsorship, and they had received the endorsement from World Design Capital 2014.  Former MD of WDC2014, Alayne Reesberg, arrived at the function late, and snubbed me when I greeted her twice, probably due to the blogpost we wrote a year ago about the shockingly poor ‘Gala Dinner‘ they organised at the start of Cape Town hosting the design year!   Christian said that they had received 92 entries, and his panel of judges (Woolworths wine buyer Ivan Oertle, Chef George Jardine – a weird choice, Joanne Thomas of Jupiter Drawing Room, and Sean Harrison of Whitespace Creative, with Christian Eedes) had selected 31 finalists.  Of these, 16 received  Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards, with one label winning the Grand Prix. The labels were put out to public vote too, receiving 4800 votes in total.  The winning labels were:

People’s Choice and Grand Prix winner:

BLANKBottle range: DOK 2013, Professor Kukurowitz 2013, Hinterhofkabuff 2013, The Original Spaniard 2013, Confessions of a White Glove Chaser 2013, Col. Mulscal Roos 2013 Design firm: Self designed

Gold:

BLANKbottle range: DOK 2013, Professor Kukurowitz 2013, Hinterhofkabuff 2013, The Original Spaniard 2013, Confessions of a White Glove Chaser 2013, Col. Mulscal Roos 2013 Design firm: Self designed

Infiniti Noble Late Harvest 2012 (Stellenbosch Vineyards) Design firm: Vanessa Fogel Design

Silver:

*   One Man Band by Iona 2009 Design firm: Code

*   Mr P Pinot Noir 2013 (Iona) Design firm: Code

*   Mulderbosch Barrel Fermented Chardonnay 2010 Design firm: Anthony Lane Design Consultancy

*   Sophie Te’blanche 2014 (Iona) Design firm: Code

*   Marvelous range: Yellow 2012, Red 2012, Blue 2012 Design firm: Fresh Identity (owned by Adam Mason and Peter Tempelhoff)

*   Paserene range: Chardonnay 2013, Marathon 2013 Design firm: Self designed (in collaboration with Lorraine Loots, Lauren Ann McCarthy and Carmen Ziervogel)

*   Villiera range: Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Merlot 2013, Pinotage 2013, Jasmine Fragrant White 2014, Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc 2014, Bush vine Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Chenin Blanc 2014 Design firm: Anthony Lane Design Consultancy

Bronze:

*   Ashbourne Sauvignon Blanc Chardonnay 2014 Design firm: Pearly Yon

*   DeMorgenzon Maestro White 2014 Design firm: Fanakalo

*   Elgin Ridge 282 Sauvignon Blanc 2013

*   Quinta do Sul 2008 Design firm: Self designed (in collaboration with Warren Wilsnach of Coastal Labels)

*   La Bri range: Viognier 2013, Chardonnay 2013, Merlot 2012, Cabernet Sauvignon Limited Release 2012, Affinity 2012, Syrah 2012 Design firm: Anthony Lane Design Consultancy

The winning design labels will be showcased at Design Indaba at the Cape Town International Convention Centre next week.   The Grand Prix award was crafted by Volker Koch, a 200 year oak base topped with a 4mm solid copper.

I met Chef Tjaart Walraven for the first time, who prepared delectable canapés of  courgette roulade, peach and biltong crostini with pickled cucumber, and Caprese tartlets.  Chef Tjaart wore a Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons chef’s jacket, having worked at the Raymond Blanc UK restaurant.   He runs catering company FoodTemplate, and one of his contracts is Beau Constantia, with a staff member based at the wine estate.

Winemag.co.za and Rotolabel are to be saluted for launching the Wine Label Design Awards.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com  Tel (021) 433-2100, Twitter:@WhaleCottage  Facebook:  click here