Last week Winemag announced its Wine Label Design Awards winners, the second year that it has hosted the event, which is sponsored by self-adhesive label supplier Rotolabel.

The Awards event was held at AVA Gallery in Church Street, not the easiest venue to get to in town at that time of the day. Hosting the event in an art gallery was a clever idea, and works 
by artist Gareth Nyandoro displayed in the main gallery complemented the design excellence reflected in the Wine Label Design Awards finalists and winners.

For the first time we were welcomed with a live performance by the talented 17-year old Dara Steingaszner, singing a moving ‘Hallelujah‘ by Leonard Cohen. Rotolabel MD Wicus Maritz introduced the Awards evening, his company being the main sponsor. He predicted that by 2049 there will be no labels on bottles, but rather a microchip with a projector in a glass. 3D holographics will project images of the vineyards, winemaker, and the wines, jumping out at the consumer from the pack on the shelf. He said that he is grateful that wine bottles still have labels, which raise the bar of the wine brand, labels being intricate and making bottles and brands prestigious. The Awards were designed to inspire brand owners and designers, and to reward design excellence. He said that his company enjoys the challenge of being pushed by designers.

Awards convenor Christian Eedes said that he ‘hates bad wine labels‘. On his website he wrote about the 2016 Awards, stating that ‘the overall standard of the 50 entries was satisfactory rather than inspired‘! He explained that wine packaging appears to be classical and usually not very original. Wine brands tend to be represented by traditional icons such as homesteads, or a family crest. On the other hand more experimental design often becomes ‘incoherent or even nonsensical’. He added that the worst pack designs are in the bottom price bracket. He also felt that too much design looks similar. He concluded by writing that the South African heritage generally does not show in the label designs.

The panel of five judges, consisting of Rebecca Constable of Woolworths, Sean Harrison of Whitespace Creative,  Carla Kreuser of The Jupiter Drawing Room, Chef Liam Tomlin of Chef’s Warehouse, and Eedes was introduced. He encouraged the design and wine industries to talk to each other.

The Awards were judged in four price categories, and the judging criteria were originality, shelf appeal, execution, and its story-telling.

For the first time, no Grand Prix winner was announced.  The overall winners were the following:

#   People’s Choice Awards, which was open to a public vote: Cavalli Warlord 2009

#   Wine series: Gold to Luddite Wines’ Saboteur Range (by Whitespace Creative), Silver to Piekenierskloof Grenache Range  (by Anthony Lane Design Consultancy), and Bronze to Cavalli Estate Passions range (by Cavalli).

#  Wine R500 a bottle or more: Gold to Simonsig The Garland 2009 (by Anthony Lane Design Consultancy), and Bronze to Deetlefs Muscat d’Alexandrie 1974 (by Anthony Lane Design Consultancy).

#  Wine selling at R81 – R499 per bottle: Silver to Beaumont Hope Marguerite 2014 (by Whitespace Creative), Incipio 2014 (by Holy Cow Design), and Roan Ranger 2013 (byJane Says). Bronze to Babylonstoren Sprankel (by Babylonstoren), Fabel Belle Flower Rosé 2014 (by Anthony Labe Design Consultancy), Klein Constantia Metis 2014 (by At Pace), and Spice Route Malabar 2009 (by Jane Says).

#   Wine selling at R80 or less: Bronze to Stormhoek Moscato 2015 (by Simon Frouws)

Second Annual Wine Label Design Awards, cell 083 654 7721,  www.winemag.co.za Twitter: @Winemag

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whalecottage.com/blog  Tel 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@WhaleCottage  Facebook:  click here