BEHIND THE DESIGN: Taylors The Visionary

As one of Australia’s leading premium wine brands, Taylors has been a highly successful third-generation family-own wine business.

With the core of its sales volume being generated in the premium ($10-$20) and super-premium ($20-$40) segments, future growth was constrained due to the scale of the brand’s success in these segments. However, Taylors identified the opportunity to extend its trademark reach into the ultra-premium ($40- $200) segment as a means to not only pursue additional growth prospects but also with a view to the additional halo benefit that a legitimate ultra-premium trademark offering could extend across its entire portfolio.

Taylors The Visionary has been the first uber-luxury release from wine company since it was established in 1969. Every aspect of the packaging design needed to reflect the uber-premium nature of the wine, including the presentation gift box which was the first touch-point for consumers. Firstly, naming this wine meant delving into the philosophy of not only the winemakers, but importantly the family. Taylors has regarded Bill Taylor Senior and Bill Taylor Junior as visionary men in their winemaking and business endeavours, who deserved the honour of having The Visionary named after them.

The design then needed to position Taylors differently in the minds of consumers. Whilst Denomination needed to align to the classic nature of many of their ranges, it also believed that it was important to inject a clear modernity into the design. It also wanted to communicate to consumers, trade and media, that this was a wine worthy of its price point. The finished label design embodies contemporary luxury cues with its use of negative space on the labels, the classic typography, watermark treatment surrounding the hand-numbered bottle identification and the high quality production.

The innovative use of materials and luxury production techniques were essential to what this ultra-premium wine demanded. Each bottle of The Visionary is individually hand labelled, hand numbered and hand packaged in a bespoke design luxury gift box and outer sleeve. The substantial outer sleeve of the gift box is resplendent in a metallised silver paper stock, featuring a large laser die-cut Taylors seahorse crest with a de-bossed foil block at the base while the inner gift box has been hand wrapped in black linen book cloth revelling in its sophisticated use of negative design space. The hand-sewn vintage booklet that accompanies each bottle of The Visionary details the history, vintage conditions, vinification and maturation of this exceptional wine. The resulting gift box design set the tone for the whole consumer experience – the attention to detail, quality of finishes and finesse of design.

Taylors managing director Mitchell Taylor expressed that this a wine was one that people would keep for many years and so a design which was timeless, classical and elegant yet ultimately very sophisticated all at once was wanted. “The gift packaging really was pivotal,” he said. “With respect to the wine, we knew that we had the makings of our finest Cabernet Sauvignon, so it was fitting we match the same benchmark for quality and luxury with what we reflected in the final presentation of this wine.”

Rowena Curlewis said that the most important award for Denomination was seeing the commercial success of its brands in the marketplace. “Second to that is having our designs recognised for their contribution to our clients’ successes so the PACKWINE Award is a great way to celebrate not only our success, but our clients too,” she said.

 

Post adapted from the Grapegrower & Winemaker June 2021 edition, reporting by Stephen O’Loughlin.

WATCH THE FULL 2021 PACKWINE DESIGN AWARDS PRESENTATION

 

 

Best Presentation & Gift Pack Design

This category is open to gift packs, holiday sets, wooden boxes, subscription packs, wine club packs and presentation cases. The packaging will be judged on the cohesiveness of the set, their visual appeal as a set and as individual pieces, design functionality and appropriateness for the price segment.

 

SPONSORED BY EBOTTLI

eBottli help vineyards to digitalise their story by augmented reality and to optimize their processes in the supply chain.