How important are labels to you?
What factors drive label design, plus a closer look at the styles proliferating shop shelves now.
When buying a bottle how often are you swayed by the label? Are you more likely to buy a bottle of wine because of the label or are labels irrelevant? These are all questions I ask myself when buying wine because even though I know it’s what’s inside that counts, I still find myself reaching for bottles with eye-catching labels. Should I think twice?
The adage of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ feels like it was written for wine, as much as it was for literature. The rational part of my brain knows that taste trumps appearance but I can’t help it. Give me a funky sketch or a cool font and the bottle is in my basket! It’s the same with book covers. The books with artistic covers fly off the shelves for the look of them alone. Style over substance? It seems we don’t care as long as it looks good.
Up until a few years ago bottle label design was pretty homogenous. We have the younger generation of winemakers to thank for driving the label revolution because let’s be honest, wine shops have never looked better. These producers want to connect with a different, often younger drinker and labels are an excellent way to do this. There are some producers, let’s call them The Old Guard, who simply don’t care. Their wines sell on their reputation alone so the labels are irrelevant. I can think of lots of very expensive wines that have boring labels but it doesn’t matter, people still buy. Lucky them! New growers and winemakers aren’t so fortunate. The vinous landscape is markedly different to what it was ten years ago and the amount of wine on the market increases day by day, so you need to stand out. In a world where brand is so important, it’s no surprise that young wine producers are paying a lot more attention to their labels.
Why is there now such variety when it comes to label design? The rise of ‘new’ regions, who often have flexible attitudes when it comes to rules, has led to more design diversity. Some regions, particularly in the New World (this extends from Australia, Chile etc to now include Greece, China, England and beyond), do not stipulate what you can or can’t put on your label. The direct outcome of this is more creative freedom but some aren’t so fortunate. Many regions, particularly in traditional Europe (Old World) are part of an appellation system, which stipulates what grape they can grow, how long they can age their wines for and even, how many bottles they can produce. The list goes on. The appellation system restricts creativity, as they each have their own set of rules and regulations yet most people, given the choice, will choose regulations over imagination! If you play the game the privilege of using the all important appellation name on your label is yours. Here’s an example: if you’re making wine in Gevrey-Chambertin (a village in Burgundy) and you want to use this hallowed name on your label, by law, you have to grow Pinot Noir. If you wanted to plant Merlot, you could, but you would not be able to label your wine Gevrey-Chambertin. You can charge a whole lot more for a bottle bearing the name Gevrey-Chambertin so you stick to the rules. When it comes to labels, here’s where tradition usurps creativity.
With this in mind, I thought it would be fun to look at a few label styles that can be found in shop shelves and wine cellars in 2025.
Traditional
If you’re making wine in the well-known regions such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, you’re going to shout about it on your label. Forget art! Instead, you focus on tradition - after all, this is how you’ll sell your wine. This is why so many labels for regions such as Burgundy tend to be pretty dull. The esteemed producers only need the name of the vineyard to stand out so why waste money on graphic design? The wines from Bordeaux tend to have images of their namesake Chateaux. These are some of the most beautiful structures in the world so if you’ve got it, flaunt it. The font will usually be plain, ensuring legibility because you want your consumer to recognise the name. Burgundy wines tend to be stripped back but not in a minimalist way, in a ‘we don’t have to try way.’ The name of the village, vineyard and producer are what’s important so these will be printed in swirly/gothic text (a favourite of mine) or block text (they don’t need to try!). The traditional label appeals to a certain demographic and if it ain’t broke…
Artistic
You’d be surprised at how many winemakers moonlight as artists. I can count at least five who are as skilled with a brush as they are with a bunch of grapes. The connection between art and wine is deeper than you might think. Both are luxuries - no one needs wine nor paintings yet people still spend fortunes on both. Most collectors of wine also collect art and a lot of winemakers are creatives at heart. Why would you not design your own labels if you can? Bibi Graetz, a winemaker based just outside Florence, is a talented abstract painter who transfers his paintings into wine labels (think Mark Rothko meets Jackson Pollock). Gavin Chanin makes elegant Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays in Santa Barbara and his labels are some of the best around. He pulls on his early experience at art school to inspire the dreamy, abstract label art and this aesthetic can be felt in his wines too. Angus Paul, a young winemaker based in South Africa, uses his youth to his advantage. He’s not trying to appeal to his parents' generation so he incorporates his quirky illustrations onto his labels, automatically becoming a favourite of the younger generation. Clever strategy. The art-focused labels are a particular hit with millennials. Once the bottle has been drunk, we can whack a candle in it, stick it on the table and pretend we are in Paris.
Tongue in cheek
Playful, tongue in cheek labels have emerged onto the scene and for this, we must thank natural wine. The natural wine scene has always eschewed pretentiousness in favour of humour. Low-intervention winemakers are usually pretty low key people, free of the shackles of their fathers’ generation, so of course they would celebrate this with fun labels. Whether it’s comic book style artwork or funny text, this style of labels appeals to young people. You can’t open a newspaper these days without seeing a statistic about how little young people drink. Fun labels are a way to connect with younger people - they show a fun side to wine. Pink Diesel’s delicious rosés acknowledge the idea of rosé as ‘lady petrol.’ By including a diesel pump on their label they show they in on the joke and are having fun with it.
Minimalist
Some producers go for the stripped back approach. We’re talking minimalist and modern with zero decoration in sight. Porseleinberg is one of South Africa’s most promising wines (100% Syrah made in a similar style to the wines of the Northern Rhone) but you wouldn’t know it from the label. If you look close enough you can see Porseleinberg embossed but you’d be forgiven for thinking the label was blank. You might ponder why they wouldn’t advertise their name more but when you meet the winemaker, you realise that he couldn’t care less about how the wine looks. It’s all about the liquid yet the plainness of the label actually works in the wine’s favour. The blank label is eye-catching and has definitely helped Porseleinberg become an iconic wine.
Occidental, a Californian producer, also opted for the minimalist approach. A simple cream label with Occidental printed in black is all they need and I must say I really like this clean approach. The minimalist label is for level two of life. You’ve enjoyed the quirky labels but just as everyone transitions from grotty house share to serene apartment, you graduate from fun into minimalism. You don’t tend to find minimalist labels in the traditional regions - it’s more of a New World thing. Minimalist labels often come out of a deep respect for the Old World, indeed many producers spend time as interns in Europe, so I see the minimalist labels as their nod to tradition.
There are of course many more label categories but next time you’re in a wine shop see if you can identify these four types. Are you drawn to tradition or tongue in cheek? If you always buy artistic labels why not mix it up with a traditional bottle? The label style will often correlate to the style of wine in the bottle so to avoid living in a vinous echo chamber, step out of your comfort zone and try buying something different! You might be pleasantly surprised…