Steve Kapsinow (bio)

USA Today reports that, according to a July 2005 Gallup Poll, "39% of Americans say they choose wine most often when they drink alcohol, while 36% most often drink beer." This is the first time wine has surpassed beer.

The study was part of a larger article about winemakers' attempts to appeal to a younger generation "with fun packaging and lower prices." Leading the charge is Virgin Group founder Richard Branson who announced a new "hip" wine brand called Virgin Vines.

But marketing and advertising will only lead these young experimenters down the aisle. Wine labels will grab their attention and lead their fingers to the bottle (or box), and the current batch of art, with its fine lines, high-brow imagery, and graceful stylings might not get the job done.

For an extensive view of the wine label landscape, check out the collections from the following two sites:

• Mike Kellstrand's Wine Label Gallery

• Rick McNees' Wine Label Library

Surely 72 dpi fails to capture the richness and textures of these labels, but the scans are decent enough size to get the jist of the designs. McNees also has a page devoted to Labels of Chateau Mouton Rothschild. From the site:

Each year a renowned artist is commissioned to do the artwork for that vintage, in exchange, for cases of wine. Every collector dreams of collecting a 'vertical' of Mouton to display the artwork of Mouton. Labels have been produced by the world's most famous contemporary artists, Chagall, Dali, Picasso, Miro, Andy Warhol, as well as other luminaries such as Hollywood director John Huston.

Well, based on the walls of many college dormrooms, the Dali one may have a chance, but I wonder how wine labels will change to appeal to a more mainstream and younger market?

Will "hip" wine packaging that attract these new markets be able to maintain that fine line between art and design, or will they need to become simpler and more practical, with elements such as shiny substraits and big bold lettering?

Who knows for sure, but with low price being a major factor in wooing a younger market, winemakers will need to go after marketshare.

And look at beer companies that rely on marketshare. Coors, Anheuser Busch, etc. use flashier packaging to draw attention to their products on the shelves and in the coolers. Winemakers will need to do the same.

Of course there will be room for both high-end wines and marketshare wines, but if winemakers prove successful at grabbing this new market, there is only limited space on the shelves, and wine labels and bottles (and boxes) will need to be designed so that they grab your eye as soon as you walk through that door.