Bringing Nobility To Wine Labels

The Loire Valley’s La Noblesse shakes up the French wine sector with a slightly irreverent twist by drinks design specialist Denomination. Brand owner Fourth Wave approached Denomination wanting to entice consumers to drink wines from the Loire Valley, a region awash with old-fashioned, same-y brand and packaging identities. Because the area is known as the playground of the French aristocracy, Denomination chose to replace fine-penned illustrations of chateaux with playfully cropped images of members of the nobility. The brand name has a chalk-pen effect reminiscent of the way bottles are priced-up in French wine shops. Everything combines to present the range in a distinctly Gallic light. Rowena Curlewis, CEO, Denomination, says: “We needed to find a way to represent the aristocratic Loire in a way that didn’t resort to depicting the ubiquitous châteaux that are so common on French labels. It was important that this brand stood out from the crowd and was distinctive, personality-led and disruptive, whilst still being respectful to its origins… [The result is] unmistakably French and high-quality, but with stacks of attitude to open it up to new demographics and make it more relevant to modern consumers” Denomination has offices based in London, Sydney and San Francisco.