Chris Scott – Every wine has a story to tell

Chris Scott, New Zealand’s most awarded winemaker, approached the creation of his own wine collection as a personal and deeply considered endeavour — one that blends Old World craft with New World confidence. He wanted a brand that would reflect his quiet mastery, honour the Hawke’s Bay terroir, and feel timeless without relying on traditional wine tropes.

The challenge was to create something with the gravitas to sit alongside the world’s best, while remaining modern, design-conscious and emotionally resonant. Anchored in the idea that “every wine has a story to tell”, the design concept drew from concrete poetry — with each label composed as a visual poem, typeset like a typewriter draft and devoid of logos or embellishments. Each wine title, such as The Stone Giants, The Briny Wink and The Florilegium, evokes a sense of place and narrative.

The label design uses subtle embossing on textured stock, sealed with hand-dipped wax and a delicate neck tag simply stating “By Chris Scott”. The visual identity is built on restraint, with a colour palette inspired by the land and a design language that prioritises tactility and storytelling over ornament. By stripping away conventional cues of prestige, the brand invites a new kind of engagement — poetic, thoughtful and quietly powerful. It appeals both to fine wine connoisseurs and to a younger, design-savvy audience seeking authenticity and meaning.

Ultimately, this is more than packaging — it is a visual anthology of land, memory and mastery, authored by one of Aotearoa’s most respected winemakers.