Labels I Can Love

Last week I purchased two bottles of wine simply because I liked the labels. This was a first for me—a former graphic designer whom you might imagine could be easily swayed by an enticing visual treatment, especially on a product I love.

I recognized the labels as the work of Louise Fili, a designer I have always admired, and whose work has won so many awards they are too numerous too list. Fili gleans inspiration for her designs from the natural landscape—the ubiquitous olive tree, the Trullo style houses of Puglia, as well as from turn of the century posters, orange wrappers, photographs of Italian signage, hand-lettered typefaces, and other ephemera she has collected over many years.

By chance, my purchase coincided with the buzz in the wine press about the European Union’s new wine regulations, which were introduced this summer in an effort to help European winemakers gain back market share from their New World competitors. Part of the new law gives producers the option to include the grape variety on the label—something that new world producers have done routinely.

In reading the articles, one might think the new rule represents the wine world equivalent of the coming of the apocalypse. One comment on a well-respected website called it “yet another successful attempt at dumbing things down for the average idiot.”

I take umbrage with this viewpoint. I have studied wine and I know what grapes are inside the bottle but I feel that not everyone needs to be so inclined in order to enjoy wine. And I know I will likely offend traditionalists with this next question—but grape variety notwithstanding—why do so many old world labels insist on being so graphically challenged?

Most are laid out with predictable, often illegible typefaces that make it difficult to find the information even if you are wine-educated. On the shelf, these labels become a sea of sameness—bland-looking text on cream-colored backgrounds with accents of brown, black, ochre, and gold leaf.

The labels designed by Fili are for Italian wines—perhaps serving as proof that European labels can do what their New World competitors have been doing all along—create beautiful packaging that is fresh and enticing while still paying homage to a traditional past.

Tags: wine | Fili, Louise | wine labels