Following the rebrand of Two-Blocks launched last year, Patrick of Coonawarra is transforming its Flagship range of premium wines into the Single Site range with a new look, label and name to match the evolving direction of the brand.
According to winemaker and director Luke Tocaciu, the reason for the new name of the range is "to emphasise that we own all of our own vineyards, and we can control the process from the very start. We wanted to talk about our vineyards more, in line with the Two-Blocks range. Single sites or single-vineyard wines are renowned through the industry, and they are a select parcel of fruit from one single vineyard rather than a blend from multiple blocks or regions. It's closer to what you're actually tasting from the region or a specific regional area."
sides of the coin.
Key Elements of the design for the Single Site range include:
Parallels with the logo
The team at Patrick of Coonawarra explain that the two split labels mirror the two stripes/blocks in the primary logo, and are symbolic of its personality: two sides of our coin. The polarising gold versus black of the two labels (on the front and back) is also a reflection of the two sides of the coin, mirroring again the concept in its logo. In addition, the gold and black labels flip on the back, which the team says ties back to this same concept of duality.
Gold and Black
The team at Patrick of Coonawarra said that they chose the gold and black colour scheme due to the opulence that gold evokes. Gold appears through Two-Blocks as well, as a main feature, but the team decided to drop the colours for Single Site to promote it as much more serious product, one for wine geeks and collectors.
"These really are serious wines, they are the wines that reflect old (winemaking) widsdom, and the heritage side of our coin. They are the legacy that Patrick left with us to nurture and grow. It was important that his legacy was felt in this packaging, as well as of course in the wines," they explained.
Labels and printing
The labels were printed by CCL (South Australia), which the team said were "amazing" to work with, as the printing company "went where no one else would" with the specific techniques required. According to the team, no other winery has used the amount of gold foil that they did, on a label of premium textured stock.
Cotone Bianco Ultra, which the team said has a texture and thickness that is "just right", was the stock of choice for the Single Site range, having previously been used for the Méthode range too.
From a design perspective, each of the wines have a word blind embossed across the front labels which display facts about the vineyard itself and the wine's unique points of difference. In addition, the vineyard names are very clear and bold.
The team explains that the embossment behind the actual physical label represents some of those subtleties of the vineyard, referencing north-facing slopes or cool climate or sixty-year-old vines, pointing out that "some of those facts about the vineyard are subtly on the label to reflect those unique differences in our wine versus someone else's".
Bottles and cartons
The bottles for the new range were chosen to be slightly different to "add the premium look and feel of this range with their heavy weight and unique shapes" and were selected and imported from overseas due to the limited options within Australia.
The cartons for Single Site, supplied by Visy, are premium, brown recycled cardboard with only one colour ink used. In line with being kinder to the planet, Patrick of Coonawarra says it aims to do small things to limit its footprint.
"We historically had multiple colours, a more expensive process, an additional layer of gloss. We didn’t want (or need) all of this for the Single Site Cartons. We needed it to be structurally sound and sturdy (as they have expensive wines in them) and tell a story about the wines in the box," said the team, confirming that all cartons used in the range are recyclable.
Every carton has a story on it, outlining the unique points of difference for each wine, in plain, succinct, black and white.
Focus on Vineyards
With its new packaging and rebranding, Patrick of Coonawarra's objective was to bring the focus back onto it as viticulturists, as well as winemakers.
The two elements that Patrick of Coonawarra is built on is “People” and “Viticulture”. Pat started this business with the purchase of Home Block in the '90s. He was extremely passionate about owning all his vineyards, over the decades he established vineyards from scratch as well as buying new ones. He believed (as, to this day, does the company) that “you are what you grow”. His vision, when starting Patrick, was a paddock to bottle business.
Previously called Flagship, these wines have always been ‘single vineyards’, but it was never obvious, and now it is, says the team.
Tell more of a story
"With this re-brand we wanted to move away from long winded cliché copy on wine labels. We wanted to find that balance between ‘telling customers what they might expect from the wine’, ‘telling the facts about the wine (and vineyard)' and ‘telling a story about the brand’. As a result, we paired back long sentences about how the wine tastes, and made everything succinct. This is mirrored in all new ranges we have launched," explained the team.
The new range comprises Single Site 2015 Home Block Cabernet Sauvignon, Single Site 2016 Joanna Shiraz and Single Site 2014 Block 5 Aged Riesling.
The team at Patrick of Coonawarra say they are continuing to pave the way for the Australian wine industry, striving to exemplify how as a brand, you can employ creativity to remain relevant, stay modern and exciting while maintaining the essence of the wines.
