The Covered Bridge Cellars Blog

Another Bottle Shot

This just arrived via email:

Jeremy

Digitized Bottle Shot

Here is a look at a bottle shot of our Path Stone label that our graphic designer at Crushpad just sent to us:

The label image is the real thing that has been photoshopped onto a digitized bottle image. We'll use this temporarily on the website until we can get some actual bottle shots. If you click it you'll see the super extra-large image!

Jeremy

Creating Our Path Stone Label

We recently unveiled our Anderson Valley label, Path Stone, as well as our CBC label in this post here on the blog. Below is the work-up for the Path Stone brand from start to finish. The final label image was the culmination of many revisions and iterations around our initial mock-up design. Going from idea stage to final printed product was quite a process with both of us learning a great deal along the way. Below I go into some detail about how things unfolded and the decisions we made along the way. First though, here is a quick review of some of the label attributes we had laid out at the very beginning when we conceptualized our Anderson Valley brand. I'll dig into the marketing and branding side of things for Path Stone in a separate post.

Label Requirements

•     Clean/classic look with balance and symmetry in the design elements
•     Black and red color scheme for the text
•     Silver foil embossing on the stones
•     High quality paper stock, either off white or bright white
•     When viewed head-on, the label should cover the entire width of the bottle exactly
•     Smart use of white space
•    Spare no expense in packaging
  

The First Mock-Up
This image was created in about 2 minutes with the basic Paint program found on all Windows based computers. The initial color was red, then gold, then we went to silver since path stones are a lot more silver/grey in color than either red, or gold.





Graphic Artist Mock-Ups
The mock design was handed off to our designer at Crushpad who would work on getting us to a final design. Here are some of the initial concepts he came up with as we began to really narrow down what worked and what did not. The basic design scheme was already there so it was a matter of presenting the stones effectively and pulling the overall label together with spacing, typography, and other considerations.

Refining and Revising
At this point the design was probably about 85% complete, not counting the back label. Decisions regarding the fonts to be used and the color scheme were finalized. For the main brand name, we went with a font called Aviano and decided on Garamond for the varietal, vintage, vineyard, and AVA information. While using two different serif style fonts together is not typically a good idea, this combo seemed to work well and so we went with it. Maybe we will change this for our 2008 label run, keeping everything in Aviano. The decision to include the small line elements surrounding the vintage was finalized as well. Overall, we felt it gave a little lift to the look and feel of all the element blocks. We went through a few different color schemes at this point too, ultimately deciding on the red instead of silver for both the varietal and vintage blocks. Spacing was something we were very attentive to and keeping all the elements more or less equally spaced seemed to work best. Visually, things were really starting to come together. At this point we printed up a number of labels on our home color printer and began glue sticking them to empty bottles. This was a good thing because it meant we got to drink a lot of wine in the process.

 

Front Finished--But Where to Put Alc. by Volume?
Such a small part of the label, yet, attention to detail dictated that we get things exactly perfect with regards to where the required alcohol content line was going to go. We had also put the number of cases produced on the front, but in the end, everything was placed on the back label, which kept the front label super clean and balanced. Below is the final front label that would be sent to the printers along with a detail look at the stones. You will notice that there is more white space at the edges in this final version. This is because we decided to go with a wider than normal--well, wider than what was offered--label that would size to the edges of the bottle we selected when viewed head on, rather than show a small amount of the glass. This is a small detail but makes a huge difference in the final presentation. We did have to incur a small charge for the custom die to cut the label to the size we wanted, but in the end it was completely worth the $200 or so bucks. 

 

Back Label Content
We wanted to put as much effort into the back label as we did the front to ensure a complete design that was up to our standards. We opted to provide the technical details of our wine rather than come up with flowery romance copy. We think our target market will appreciate this information and we like how it looks. We also decided to re-create the front label content in miniature as a header block on the back--sans the embossed stones. Putting this information there also allowed us to move the Alc. by Vol. line onto the back. The TTB doesn't care where you put alcohol content, as long as the companion information--varietal, vineyard, AVA, year, brand, etc. can be seen next to it. To balance things off we added the "Product of USA" line along with the required "Contains Sulfites" disclosure to the footer beneath the required "Government Warning" text block.

Producer Information and Logo
Producer information is a required element on every wine label. We decided to put our website address along with our bridge logo on the back along with this information as a way of further associating Covered Bridge Cellars with our Path Stone brand. The bridge logo matches the red ink color, and in keeping with our endorsed branding approach, will be consistently found in the same spot on all future brand labels--as well as our corks.

Choosing Paper Stock
While there are tons of different types of paper one could choose, we had a few choices in which to work with. Crushpad provides a basic high quality laid and plain paper along with a felt option, but we needed something that would work with the embossed stones. We looked at a heavy stock "Classic Laid" paper in both bright white and off-white colors, but we're told that there were better alternatives given our embossing needs. A sample of Classic Crest was sent to us and we really liked what we saw and felt--it simply worked. The bright white made all the elements pop and had a cleaner look than the other options we looked at.

Embossing Decisions
We had gone back and forth on trying to decide exactly how we wanted to emboss the stones. In our minds eye, we both knew what we wanted the finished product to look like, however, trying to convey that vision to someone else is not always easy. There are lot's of embossing techniques, but basically we were trying to decide between a standard embossing, which would raise the stones in one plane, giving them a flat one dimensional look, versus a sculptured emboss, which provides shape, form, and texture to the element. The latter involves an artists hand carving the stones in the die, providing surface relief that will be present on the finished label element. Despite the added expense, we opted to have the stones sculptured embossed, in the end we felt it was worth it given the positioning of this brand as a high-end offering and the realistic look we wanted for the stones. To help the artist, we put together an "inspiration" document with photos of real stones and examples of other sculptured embossed wine labels. We also had a choice of 4-5 different foil types we could have used, each with a different level of shine and reflectivity. We let our designers choose this element of the label, our only guidance was that we wanted something that was not too dull, but also not too shiny.    : )    We also had the Path Stone name embossed on the front and back, which gives it a raised feel and is a nice touch to the label design.

The Final Printed Labels
Below is are a few photos of our Path Stone label. There were several extras from the original roll that never made it onto bottles that Crushpad sent out to us. Overall, we couldn't be more happy with the outcome, the labels look clean and encompass our vision for what we wanted to present to our customers. The changes in humidity has curled the paper and backing a bit, but hopefully the pictures give you a sense of how things turned out. Soon we will have some bottle shots of the entire product presentation. Our capsule color choice was black.

 

Thanks to the Crushpad Graphic Design Team!
Definitely need to give a shout out to the Crushpad folks for helping us get these labels finished! The team over there pumps out more labels than you could imagine--hundreds upon hundreds--and their attention to detail and helpfulness does not go unnoticed! To our original designer KC--if you're reading thanks a lot for all your help, you are a patient man!! : )  And to Megan, who also helped us out a lot, a big thank you to you too if you happen to see this. So Young thanks for getting everything finalized there at the end, we look forward to working with you in the future. Finally, thanks to Sharon and Jenny, you guys are awesome!

Jeremy & Casey

Our New Labels

We'll have more pics of the printed labels up soon, but for now here are the digital images of our two labels:

 

 

 

   

Jeremy

Our Corks

With bottling completed for our 2007 wines, we were finally able to get a first hand look at our Covered Bridge Cellars branded corks. Not all of them made it into a bottle, so we had Crushpad send the extra ones out to us. The package came last week and although I haven't counted them, there looks to be around three dozen or so.

Click pics for supersized image   

We will be using the extra's to create some images for our website and once we are done with that we'll probably keep a few for posterity and then use the rest to seal the wines we make here at home in the garage. We weren't expecting the 2007 on the ends of the corks since our instructions were to go without the vintage stamp.  However, I think somewhere along the line with the switching of designers, this info was missed. A clean cork with just our logo would have been perfect, but the vintage look on the ends is starting to grow on us.

Regardless of what is on the ends, these are some really nice, top of the line all natural corks. They are produced by Laffite, a French company with operations in CA. This is the company's tagline:

"The Crowning Achievement To Fine Wine"

Here is an excerpt from their About Us page:

History
Lafitte is a French family with a reputation in the cork industry for supplying the finest cork for over four generations. Beginning in France, the company moved its major production site to Northern Portugal in 1956, in order to be directly involved in the selection of fine cork from the most thriving and sustainable cork forests in the world.

Because of its ideal growing conditions, Portugal supplies more than fifty percent of the cork in the industry. Cork oak trees in Portugal have a life span of about 150 years and renew their bark after harvest every nine to ten years. Through dedicated forest management, Lafitte hand selects raw cork of impeccable quality while preserving the natural sustainability of cork oak trees.

Lafitte Cork and Capsule
In 1982 Lafitte opened facilities in Napa to process cork and capsules for direct sale to North American customers. Lafitte offers corks of the highest quality. Lafitte California maintains a full inventory of cork grades, lengths, and washes for lot selection.

Lafitte Cork and Capsule is a founding member of the CQC (Cork Quality Council), which sets stringent standards on corks to be sold in the US market.

With the kind of wines we are crafting, it is essential to use the highest quality closures possible. In fact, the Lafitte corks are the only ones Crushpad makes available to us (you also have the option of using screwcaps). We are using the standard 2" corks, they do offer a 2 1/4" version which is a higher grade, but the bottle we chose wouldn't allow for it because the neck wasn't long enough. This is something we will likely change for 2008. The one other thing I think that we could change in the future is to add our website address along with our name and logo to the cork stamp. Of course, to do that now means we would have to pay another custom tooling fee of around $250. Maybe once the wines are sold out and our waiting list is a mile deep, we'll think about that. As for removing the vintage on the cork ends for our 2008 wines, it's simply a matter of us specifying either yes, or, no. What do you think, should we keep the year or go without?

Jeremy

Post Bottling Update (PICS)

So, thankfully, the inaugural bottling for Covered Bridge Cellars went off without a hitch. It was fascinating watching the action as our 2007 Hein Pinot Noir was finished and packaged into a full-on commercial product. The Crushpad crew---as you will see below---took great care to make sure everything was on point. Below is a series of screen shots that will give you a sense of what it was like watching it all unfold live via the internet. I mean really, how else would a virtual winery keep tabs on this process? As with all the pictures posted to the blog, you can click on them to get the larger version.

*EDIT* You can also go through the photo deck by clicking the "Next" button in the upper right hand corner of the larger image, its white so its tough to see.

An overview of the bottling line




Our Covered Bridge Cellars branded corks

Prepping the label roll

Feeding the roll into the machine

Labeling test run, notice the control  bottle




Fresh bottles ready to go through the line




Filling up the bottles with Pinot Noir




Using a caliper for quality control checks




Capsules being "heat shrunk" onto bottle necks




A case of juice ready for taping and storage




Finished bottles coming off the conveyor




Around 25 cases of Hein Pinot Noitr  : )



The End

I mentioned in the last post that both our wines would be bottled together, but that is not the case, our Alder Springs Chardonnay is actually scheduled for bottling Tues, Sept. 9th at 9am.  So I guess we get to do this all over again then!

Either way, getting our wine to this stage is a nice little milestone for Covered Bridge Cellars. Some of you might be wondering about our labels and what they look like. We are still waiting on a few things, but very shortly we will unveil them here on the blog. We will also have some updates on the design of our website which is coming along nicely--it too will be unveiled soon. In the meantime we are going to try and get back on a regular schedule of posting. There is lot's to talk about, but time is sometimes tough to find. 

Jeremy

Time to Bottle Some Juice: Watch via the Live Webcam

Tomorrow is bottling day for Covered Bridge Cellars. Both our wines have been aging quietly for about ten months in Francois Freres zebra barrels and now they must make that last--and oh so critical journey--to the bottling line! Bottling is a nervous time for wine folks as the hibernating juice must interact with the likes of this mechanical monster where all sorts of bad things can happen--contamination, label jams, overflows, etc.

Click the image for the large version

We won't be in San Francisco to watch first hand our juice go into bottle, but we will be watching the process via Crushpad's live webcam. They actually have two cameras setup in their state of the art facility and both can be controlled remotely over the web. This means we can zoom in on the action as if we were standing right there! Ok, well, you get the point. If you want to check in on things you can go to the "CrushpadCam" at this address tomorrow at 5:00pm PST.

http://www.crushpadcam/ccam.php

The camera window also has a chat functionality so fellow gawkers can interact while watch the action. In any event it should be pretty interesting. Hopefully everything goes well and at the end of the process we will have somewhere around 50 cases of finished wine. While we are not experts in commercial wine bottling methodologies, we do know a little about the process based on our own experience making wine in our garage. Here, see for yourself:

Drinking on the job!

Making sure things are going smoothly on the line.

Give and amateur winemaker a hammer and everything becomes a nail.

Jeremy

Red Sox Players Launch 2008 Wines for Charity

What do you do if you're a major league ballplayer looking to raise money and awareness for your favorite charity? Well, you launch your own wine brand of course!

I wonder how Parker would "score" these:

David Ortiz - "Vintage Papi" - The David Ortiz Childrens Fund

Jason Varitek - "Captains Cabernet" - Pitching in for Kids Childrens Hospital

Kevin Youkilis - "Sauvign Yoouuk Blanc" - Kevin Youkilis' Hits for Kids

Three other Sox players--Manny, Wake, and Schilling--launched their own wines last year, you can check them out here. 100% of the sales go to each players charity and I believe these "Champion Edition" wines are available for pre-ordering now. You can check the Charity Hop website for more information. If you're wondering, the juice is made by Selby Winery in the Russian River Valley.

Go Sox!

Jeremy