This week will see the launch of our new label ‘Odyssey Garden’ with the label illustration reflecting the plantings in our Wine Sensory Garden. The wines that will be released later this week include a Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon., with a Rosé planned for release later this year.

The Odyssey Garden label replaces our Jetty Wine label. This range of wines is our second tier, which are blended wines, made in a style which makes the grape variety the real hero of the wine. These are wines which highlight the flavours and strengths of the main grape variety and are further enhanced by blending in other grape varieties.  The Sauvignon Blanc has up to 14% of Semillon blended in, the Shiraz has a small amount of Malbec and Viognier blended in, and the Cabernet Sauvignon has a small amount of Shiraz and Malbec blended in.

Why the Wine Label Matters

An effective label needs to attract the customer’s attention and be memorable. You need to consider the colour, the font, the graphics and even shape of the label. Another factor that can add an extra point of difference to the label is embellishments such as foiling or embossing, which makes parts of the label stand out.

The need to change the label is part of a bigger journey for us, and reflects the change in direction for our wine business which we started out on 18 months ago. It is part of the reshaping of our wine business for the next 5 to 10 years, and we will be sharing more new and exciting developments with you over the next year, bringing you along on our journey with us. At the core of all of these changes, and something which doesn’t change is our brand story.

Our brand story is what which sets us apart from other wine producers, it’s what makes us unique and it is at the centre of everything that we do:

“We are a dynamic duo of a vigneron and winemaker with a combined 50 plus years of experience between us. We take a very ‘a hands-on’ approach to growing our grapes and making our wines, and a ‘tread lightly on the earth’ philosophy with our sustainable farming practices. We specialise in making small batch single vineyard wines, made from vines growing in the ancient soils of three of Australia’s most isolated wine regions, Margaret River, Geographe and the Great Southern. Our wines are full of varietal and terroir specific flavours and are made in styles which celebrate their provenance and which pair well with food. They are wines with texture, flavour intensity, length and balance”

What Makes a Good Label Design

The Odyssey Garden label design encompasses all of our Whicher Ridge brand story elements – it highlights our unique points of difference, our sustainable, terroir focus on wines with provenance, and our winemaking style to consistently make wines with flavours and textures which pair well with food.

The Odyssey Garden label was designed by Harcus Design. The overlapping circular drawings on each varietal wine label is inspired by the figure 8 layout and the plantings in our Wine Sensory Garden. Each wine has a different coloured, hand drawn illustration which includes examples of herbs, flowers, and fruits that are specific to the main grape variety in the blend. If you look closely at each of the coloured drawings, you will be able to pick out the following:

• For Sauvignon Blanc, there is elderflower, lemongrass, lemon, lemon balm, lemon thyme, white peach, pear, nashi pear, passionfruit, gooseberry, rosemary, English lavender, caperberries, chives, fennel, dill, honeydew melon, coriander, lemon verbena.

• For Shiraz: juniper berries, parsley, rocket, pepperberry, thai basil, cinnamon basil, raspberry, blueberry, loganberry, mulberry, thyme, pomegranate, plum, blackberry, liquorice plant, fennel, chervil, radish, rosemary, Jerusalem artichoke, basil, green olive, pepper

• For Cabernet Sauvignon: blueberry, blackberry, black olive, rosemary, blood plum, bay, winter savoury, rosemary, French tarragon, green beans, violets, chocolate mint, common mint, oregano, chervil,

Creating a new label design is an exciting experience, but it is definitely not an easy or quick process! Two critical elements of  a label design project is providing a detailed design brief to the designer, and ensuring that all tiers or ranges under your brand, are easily identified as being connected with each other by common design threads. In our case it is our WHICHER RIDGE name logo on each label which connects each tier and means that the 3 tiers now sit harmoniously side by side on a shelf and in our website on-line store. I would love to hear what you think of our new Odyssey Garden range.