Beneduce Classic Series

Designer: Abraham Lule
Copywriter: Corey Lewis
Photographer: Francisco de Deus
Location: United States
Project Type: Produced
Client: Beneduce Vineyards
Product Launch Location: Global
Packaging Contents: Wine
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Glass Bottle

Wine is always tied to place, from the elusive nature of ‘terroir’ to eponymous wines from regions like Burgundy and Chablis. Yet New Jersey is not a place that usually comes to mind when you think of wine. We saw that as an opportunity.

Our packaging work for Beneduce Vineyards, a small quality-focused winery in the hills of Hunterdon County, aims to establish New Jersey as a new destination for wine.

If you’re familiar with New Jersey at all, then you’ve probably heard it referred to as the ‘Garden State’. Farming is an important part of the state’s heritage, and present day. At Beneduce Vineyards, it’s just as important. All of their wines are proudly estate grown.

So our packaging design concept—a modern take on the Farmers’ Almanac—celebrates the role of farming in winemaking, and brings cohesiveness to a growing portfolio. As we paged through dog-eared copies of Farmers’ Almanacs (1) in antique shops, we began to appreciate the details of the composition, typesetting, and language.

The focus of every cover is the year: a detail remarkably aligned with wine. We built our typographic label out from there—referencing the guide’s Early American letterpress roots with unexpected combinations of type weights, sizes, and casing. An equally unexpected font choice, the casual san serif Cardigan by Typodermic Fonts, turns this traditional styling modern.

The letterpress printing technique also limited the use of color on the covers of old Farmers’ Almanacs. So we decided to pay homage to this restrained and natural approach with a series of single-color labels.

Our palette needed to appeal to the palates of modern drinkers. So we pulled from the Mohawk Keaykolour swatch book (2), each color carefully selected to cue the aromatics, texture, and taste of the wine inside.

Because our label was so typographic, we also had to place emphasis on tone. We referenced and refreshed the type of language you might expect to find inside a Farmers’ Almanac, channeling the humility, confidence, and passion of an experienced farmer.

Lines like the ‘Grown by Sunlight, Made by Moonlight’ tagline and the tasting notes, help us connect back to our farming focus and speak to the unique seasonality of wine.

For the packaging itself, we aimed to bring the values of Beneduce Vineyards’ farming practices into our choices. Even the most inconspicuous decisions are made with future generations in mind.

The wraparound labels are printed in one run on FSC-certified paper that can be easily composted. We eschewed classic packaging flourishes—the foil on top, the wax seal—to minimize waste, and sealed the bottle simply with a branded sustainable DIAM cork. It’s a welcoming gesture to open and enjoy.

The new packaging leans into what makes Beneduce Vineyards unique—it’s unexpected and classic, generational and modern, handcrafted and vineyard-focused, driven by both innovation and tradition—it’s a new place to relax and enjoy the wine.

What’s Unique?
It’s an incredibly detailed approach to the development of the wine bottle, taking into account the history, location, and heritage of the vineyard.