Dry Creek Vineyard Old Vine Zinfandel

Agency: Auston Design Group
Printing: CCL Label
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Location: Emeryville, CA, USA
Packaging Contents: Wine

With Dry Creek Vineyard’s rich history in Zinfandel, the winery was in need of a label that visually communicated their expertise, history and the strength of their brand. Since their last Old Vine Zin package was introduced, the Zinfandel market has expanded greatly, and Dry Creek Vineyard needed a package that stood apart, and avoided all of the expected visual tropes.

To avoid the usual tropes, we sought inspiration from the time when Dry Creek Vineyard’s vines were planted. A steam ship ticket from the 1910’s served as inspiration, helping provide fuel for a label that is rich in both winemaking and visual details. Design cues include a ticket style die-cut and weathered texture. Elements like the dry-farmed stamp and hand-written harvest date markings are variably printed so that they are positioned slightly different from bottle to bottle — giving the label an authentic individual hand-stamped feel.

Visually engaging, this package presents information in a way that appeals to the average consumer, yet has all the technical specifications that a wine connoisseur loves — including information about the cork. It was our hope that this package could allow a wine-drinker to discover something new each time they came for a bottle.