What's Up in the Winery?

Anatomy of our Newest Wine Label

There's a new arrival at Satori.

T., with the help of Orion in New Hampshire, sourced
our first (voluptuous) Pinot Noir,
from Monterey County,
and it will be appearing
at a colorful tasting cabana near you
around the first of September.
But, first, our full but label-less wine bottle,
 like the one on the right,
(called a shiner)
needed a satori label.

Step 1:  send some text describing the wine and 
what we're thinking about this wine
to our ridiculously-good graphic designer, Mark.
 His website:
Ridiculously-Good Graphic Designer 

Step 2:  Our Ridiculously-Good Graphic Designer (RGGD) 
returns the text to us in label format. This part was easy
because we already had an established back-of-the-label look.
Small but important change: we chose the color green 
to differentiate our non-estate wines
(made from grapes not grown here at Satori) 
from our estate wines
(made from grapes we grow and love on campus).
There will be a new green swirl capsule as well.

Step 3:  Our RGGD sends us a "new look" front label
for this first of our non-estate red wines ...
but something doesn't seem right to us.
AdoRah (correctly) points out that the "R"
seems too prominent and "Far East" in appearance ... 
which doesn't make too much sense for a 
California Pinot Noir. So our RGGD literally goes back
to the drawing board.

Step 4:  RGGD sends us two new versions. This is the first one.
Notice that the "R" is till here, but it's subtle, not the first
thing that hits you.

This is the Second Version. Again, the "R" is subtle, 
almost sub-conscious, which we like. And we like how 
both versions capture the "tendril" look and feel of Satori
but it's not just another swirl like our estate wine labels.
More differentiation. 
But we have to choose. Which would you choose?

Step 5:  We choose this version, mostly because it seems
more balanced. And we tweak it a little, adding 
a second color to the swirling grape tendril, and our friend Julia 
suggests "R Noir" as a fun way to refer to this voluptuous Pinot.
You know we love our rhymes at Satori! 

Step 6:  T. sends the finished label (front and back) 
to the Department of the Treasury, specifically the TTB, 
the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
which regulates everything about selling wine in this country,
including approving wine labels. They can take 6 weeks
or more to do this ... and we're still waiting for approval
(much to T.'s chagrin) ...

Step 7: ... because the bottling truck 
is coming in early August and the labels still have
to be printed as well. We'll let you know
 how it all turns out. (It always does!)
Meanwhile, label or not, R Noir
is tasting quite delicious and voluptuous.







satori