Château des Charmes’ entire line of world-class wines have been redesigned by Fish Out of Water Design. The new labels were created to broaden the wines’ appeal to include a younger wine drinker without alienating the brand’s loyal customer bases.
“Our mandate was to take the wines from a fairly traditional look to the right combination of contemporary but classic design,” says Rebecca Hamilton, vice-president of client services at Fish Out of Water Design, a Toronto-based design and communications company. “Our goal was to build on the legacy and heritage of Château des Charmes.”
The key design element of the new labels is the château itself, which is the foundation of the winery’s history. It’s feature across the top of each wine label set against a stylized illustration of the Niagara Escarpment to give the wines a sense of place and identify them as Canadian in origin. Formal black and gold foil is replaced with a sophisticated charcoal and cream palette that softens the look and makes the wines more approachable.
The new labels are also the first in Canada to include a scannable quick response (QR) code. Wine lovers simply point their camera phone at the code, take a picture and are then directed to a website containing background information about the specific wine.
“The website contains information food matches, tasting notes, recipe ideas, wine reviews, a Schott Zweizel wine glass recommendation and a VIP invitation for two to visit the Château,” says Michele Bosc, director of marketing at Château des Charmes. “The idea is to lead people to our website and winery where they can discover even more about Château des Charmes.”
Founded in the Niagara Peninsula in 1978, Château des Charmes is a family-owned and operated winery committed to employing and advancing sustainable viticulture practices. Its four vineyard sites, totalling 270-acres on two distinct sub-appellations, are carefully tended to product the quality of grapes necessary to make world-class wines.
