I seldom land big, showy package design assignments. My neighbor, Bill Casico, who was Brown-Forman’s Winery Estate Director, changed all that for me. Bill asked me to design Bonterra’s sponsorship package for the Sundance Film Festival. The objective; make a strong impression.
The western style belt and buckle was a three-quarters wrap that had two silver foils, one gold foil, a mutli-level embossing pass plus four-color printing. The back label was an applied ceramic decal baked on the glass. The neck had a bolo tie with a custom mold tie clip. Each bottle was hand assembled at Bonterra’s bottling line in Hopland, CA.
The three liter package was sold at the Sundance Film Festival. They were also presented to Sundance Film Festival officials and celebrities. I was told that one bottle made it all the way to Robert Redfords’ desk. In addition, commemorative bottles were available for sale by Bonterra’s sales reps and in tasting rooms. The first bottle run quickly sold out. A second run was required to meet demand.
I was also asked to design a four page promo pamphlet for Bonterra’s national sales team. That piece sparked enough attention to drive the package’s pre-release sales.
The package won a silver medal from the San Francisco International Wine Label Competition.
2016