Ask any member of the Able Sense team: collaboration is one of our favourite parts of the job. So when Grand Pré Winery asked us to design a bold label for their brand new Moscato, our lead designer, Erin, leaped at the chance to work with them on packaging up something special.
First Directions
In their initial brief, Grand Pré described their new wine as fresh, young and bubbly, fruity and sweet, with exotic fruit flavours and a little fizz. Lower in alcohol than other wines of similar style, they wanted it to appeal to a younger audience. The winery calls it a “stand-alone product”, in that it is both different from their traditional method sparkling wines, and completely different in look and style from their existing product line, even starting from the bottle up: the winery chose a new style of clear flint bottle to show off the beautiful pink-orange colour of the product, and new, integrated custom screw capsules.
Initial explorations
With all this in mind, we worked through several versions of potential designs with the client. For the first draft, we drew inspiration from Grand Pré’s recently revamped Vintner’s Reserve and Classic Collection lines, but they felt that it lacked the sense of youthfulness and uniqueness they were seeking for their distinctive new wine. Our second attempt incorporated a bolder look with a palette of pink, gold and black, but it still didn’t quite hit the mark for our client.
Back to the drawing board
To redirect, we decided to workshop a new brief with Grand Pré, by asking a series of focused questions. While some requirements carried over from the initial brief, we were able to nail down more specific requirements and the client had the chance to realign their vision of the product into a completely different direction than their current collections. They identified their wish for a label with minimal print embellishments while still looking high-end, a reduced colour palette and a bold approach that speaks to a young audience and showcases the sparkling wine.
With this new direction in mind, we undertook some in-depth mood boarding with the client to determine their likes and dislikes. Erin reconsidered the shape, colour and typography of the new label, as well as the format of the logo, to ensure that the packaging was everything Grand Pré wanted it to be.
We proposed the final concept: a bold, clean Swiss-inspired label with a youthful spirit and a simple colour palette. The minimalist design allows the colour of the wine to stand out, and the gold foil stamp embellishment hints at the sparkling product inside. This style will be further showcased throughout their marketing and photography.
Design for a new direction
With the release of this product, Grand Pré also debuts their new monogram and custom capsule. Grand Pré participated in a brand repositioning workshop pre-website redesign, and identified the importance of featuring their home, the Annapolis Valley, which appears on their new website. This is the first physical application of the monogram and brings a custom top to the bottle when a customer opens their order or when the bottles are viewed on their side.
As the winery introduces screw tops across their product lines, it was the perfect time to match their brand repositioning. This design fits well with the other products in their lineup; these capsules will soon be incorporated across the Grand Pré line.
Collaboration is a thing of beauty
Such a beautiful outcome would usually be enough to steal the show, but there is so much to celebrate about this graphic design project that we can’t choose just one thing: our ongoing relationship with a much-loved repeat client; the spirit of collaboration and communication between two teams; the determined desire to work together until we get it just right; the joy of implementing rebranding from previous collaboration; and -- of course -- seeing the fruits of our labour released to glorious reviews, looking even better than expected. As well, Grand Pré had a very successful launch of the wine inside the new design, and their new Moscato has already become a new favourite to some of their customers.
Cheers all around!