“Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder” and so are wine labels.

As wine consumption grew in popularity and volume in the 19th and 20th centuries, the introduction of new technologies such as mass printing allowed winery’s to differentiate their wines by using individually designed labels on their bottles.

This ability to visualize its origins, communicate and quantify its contents meant that the grandeur and elegance associated with wine could be shared without having to open the bottle. Of course, this in turn led winemakers to design elaborate labels to attract consumers, culminating in some great Bordeaux chateaux commissioning famous artists to design or festoon their labels.

As studies have found that >80% of wine consumers base their wine selection on the appearance of a bottle and its label, the wine label has become more than just a label.

For when time is taken to study it, everything anyone needs to know about the elixir within the chosen wine bottle is hidden in plain sight. While the Bordeaux wine labels will have to adhere to strict regulations governing the factual information included on its veneer, the remaining space is open to the creativity and ingenuity of the winery.

Hence a wine label reflects a juxtaposition of compliant informative facts as a backdrop to stylistic individuality that can capture a consumer’s attention and patronage.

At Château Méaume, the current wine label has been the face of our wine bottles since 1980. Once all the strict Bordeaux Superieur regulations had been adhered to, my uncle decided to put the chateau front and center.

To bring its personality and presence to the label, Alan sought the help of his close friend Tom Briggs, an internationally recognized architect and artist, known for his beautiful precision drawings of well-known buildings in Hong Kong.

Tom came up with the now famous drawing of the chateau and Alan used it from the start. Give and take vintage production variation, Tom’s design has adorned over 3 million of bottles of Château Méaume wine! The original hand drawn drawing hangs proudly on my office wall.