In the wine sector, the importance of packaging is all the greater as marketers generally make little use of such media as TV, radio and billboards, either because of legal constraints or budget limitations. Thus if wine brands want to signify their differences and tell a story, be it real or fictional, about their product, they do so primarily through label design.
The semiotician François Bobrie analysed the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 over five years and identified two broad categories of labels that tell different types of stories. The first are “ego-centred Jupiterian” labels that develop stories about the wine itself, its greatness and history, and the savoir-faire behind its production. The second are “consumer-oriented Bacchic” labels, which evoke not only the wine but also the consumers who drink it and the benefits of doing so.
For example, the Château les Chevaliers label (shown below) falls into the first category. Through the use of of uppercase serif letters, gilding, an etching of a chateau and a coat of arms, it tells the story of a prestigious and aristocratic wine. The Château Clerc Milon label uses the same overall codes in its typography and colours, but the representation of dancers also evokes festivities and thus some of the benefits associated with wine drinking, such as exhilaration and headiness.
A recent study of 166 wine labels from vineyards in Australia’s Barossa Valley refined this typology by identifying four subtypes of “ego-centred” labels, each with its own illustrative theme. Some represent the production site while others highlight the winegrower or winemaker. Some of the labels displayed visual codes evoking the theme of culture, whereas others evoked nature. In all, four distinct types of brand storytelling emerge:
This typology seems to be applicable to any wine-growing region. For example, outside the Barossa Valley, we can identify the stories told by the labels of the following wines:
Studying the visual codes of wine labels also reveals four subtypes of consumer-oriented labels. Some feature shared pleasure, others personal pleasure; sometimes the pleasure is unbridled, others time controlled. Four subtypes of storytelling emerge at the intersection of these two oppositions:
Here again, the typology seems to apply to any region.
These different stories undoubtedly correspond to what Roland Barthes would have described as the “mythologies” of wine. Of course, these carefully constructed myths have a commercial purpose, as they differentiate the brands so as to assert their value. They may also correspond to a reality (in the case of a wine really made at a chateau) or to a complete fabrication (in the case of a private label, negotiator or cooperative appropriating the codes of a chateau wine). However, consumers are not necessarily fooled and these stories, whether real or fictitious, probably contribute to consumer satisfaction as long as the wine merits its price. As Alfred de Musset asked, Qu’importe le flacon, pourvu qu’on ait l’ivresse? – “Of what importance the flask, as long as the wine is heady?”
This article was copyedited by Cathy Stott.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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