Cuvaison Winery has helped shape Napa Valley, steadfastly crafting Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and select varietals on a Los Carneros estate vineyard since 1969. FINE was tasked to find new ways to differentiate, engage, and cultivate emotional connection with the historic brand’s customers, partners, and distributors. Part of the approach, explains Executive Creative Director Kenn Fine, was to challenge traditional wine brand thinking and to think of Cuvaison more like “a hospitality brand, a technology brand, or just a whole new kind of brand for the next wave in Napa Valley.”
Taking inspiration from the brand’s 1970s wine labels, original letterforms and a stained glass illustration were brought forward and modernized, while maintaining the legacy and brand equity of the past. The icon can live on its own or pair with the refined serif type. The color palette features gold and natural tones. Rich and textured print and collateral, says Fine, further elevate the visual system.
Package and label design seek to balance craft and sophistication. The Estate series uses an arched label shape to maintain brand equity from its beginnings and the 1969 established date is prominently displayed. Hand-drawn script and painted beads add an artful, human element to the Small and Micro lot tiers.
A new website was also crucial to the project. Digital Creative Director Tsilli Pines observes that the site design embraces the idea of a working winery, returning to a real Napa Valley feel and story, through a high-end lens. Positioning the wine as a precious gift, the site leads with with big, beautiful bottle shots, almost in the middle of an unwrapped state, and users are drawn into Cuvaison’s history and process through storytelling paced with bold bottle shots and people-focused imagery.
Branding, packaging, website, brochures and collateral were all rolled out together in mid-June. Credits go to Project Manager Ashley Bird, Brand Strategists Josh Kelly and Kenn Fine, Digital Strategist Steve Fine, Creative Director Tsilli Pines, Brand Designer Verity Kent, Web Designer Katerina Yermolitskaya, and Web Developers James Kurczodyna and Emmanuel Garcia.
