It’s my Vineyard

One of the most difficult decisions we had to make whilst almost drowning in administration, learning all we could about the wine business, and furnishing the house from scratch, was how did we want our label to look? Soon our 2005 fine Beaujolais wine must be bottled and we needed a label fast!

Within the time constraints we researched as much as possible. It seemed that a large percentage of the wine buying public made their selection based on firstly price, secondly the label, thirdly the grape variety or ‘cepage’ [they looked for a Merlot or a Shiraz for example] familiarly displayed on the New World wine labels, a marketing angle, and we are used to seeing it. For me the country, land and climate where the grapes are grown makes all the difference to the subtleties of flavour Sadly at the bottom of the list was how the wine tastes! Gamay, our grape variety, is not grown significantly anywhere outside this region, we decided to put it on our label and it was now legally permitted to do so in Beaujolais. There are of course those who do have a great deal of expertise, and make their choice based on knowledge and a genuine appreciation of quality, who might also learn and take advise from their wine merchant or wine club, show interest in where the wine comes from and how it is made.

Many of the New World wines have modern and often abstract designs and bold colour. Our wine is traditionally made, we wanted to suggest this through the concept that we chose. I worked closely with Fran who cleverly created our first traditional style label. We investigated cost, quantity, the significance of the number of colours, and were recommended a printer in Montagny. With great excitment we were present on the factory floor when the first samples were being run through the machines.

Now, a year on, we have continued to learn and develop our ideas as we began to establish our market and listen to the views of our customers. Through Fred’s family in Canada we were able to find an agent in Alberta we take on board the preferences of the North American culture as well as needing to conform, in Canada, to the dual language laws.

During the past weeks we have been working with our printer to refine and remodel our label for the 2006 bottles. We have used the same image, the attractive classic ‘maison de Maitre’ house surrounded by vines but with a little more style and a touch of gold. The proofs should be with us any day now.

We have three beautiful, elegant poplar trees on our property. One perfect evening I walk through the garden with a fold-up stool and basket containing my precious water colours pens and pastels. On my way to find the right spot to capture the scene I reach up and gather some cherries from the tree, growning with the bright red jewels, to refresh me as I concentrate on my task, when completed it might just become another label idea for the future.