PaperSpecs Presents: DuMOL 25th Anniversary Wine Label and Branding

On today’s crowded wine and spirit shelves, it’s extremely hard to stand out from the crowd; with more and more high-end labels looking like they should be hung in a museum.

Yet Craig Frazier ’s (https://www.craigfrazier.com/ ) identity for luxury winemaker DuMOL (https://dumol.com/ ) uses a sophisticated blend of sculptured emboss, elegant line work, and digital and letterpress printing to call to mind the natural beauty of both the Russian River Valley in which the grapes are grown, and the winery founder’s own native Scotland.

The cornerstone of DuMOL’s branding is a colorful crest depicting a thistle (native to both the winery’s Sonoma Valley and Scotland).

To commemorate the winery’s 25th anniversary, Craig Frazier elevated this thistle for a special magnum label, which was digitally printed CMYK and sculpturally embossed by MCC (https://www.mcclabel.com ) on 60 lb. Neenah Estate Label Felt.

Part of this anniversary artwork is the number “25,” which is intricately intertwined with the thistle. This subtly stands out from the rest of the label, which was flooded with a very light Beige, keeping the “25” knocked out to reveal the pure White of the paper beneath.

This stunning pen-and-ink drawing of a thistle, featuring the “25” in Spencerian script, was designed on paper and then reproduced in Illustrator.

The elevated thistle design was further extended into a seal that appears on all wines that were released during the anniversary year. In this case, though, the design is printed 2 colors only, so as not to distract from that particular wine’s colorful crest.

This seal was also the center of attention for a host of print pieces, including hangtags, welcome cards that were letterpress printed in 2 colors by Michael Rylander https://sweetbippypress.com on Mohawk Superfine Eggshell 120 lb. Cover.

An additional 4-color release card was digitally printed by AD-Vantage Marketing (https://ad-vantagemarketing.com/ ).

From the impressive spectrum of colors on the label’s crest to the commemorative seal and beautiful sculptured emboss, that cutting-edge and time-honored techniques go together as nicely as, well, delicious Gouda and a good pinot noir. Cheers!