Labels and stickers have never been cheaper or easier to source and no matter what you need, you should be able to find a print and design partner who can deliver what you need, at the price you demand and without sacrificing quality.  You are only restricted by your own imagination though many printers will offer a very wide range of designs and templates for you to use if you want something quickly – still, there is always scope for your own personal touch given the technology available today.

Many online websites are offering cheap printed labels and other services but you should establish who you are dealing with before you place the order and part with your hard earned cash. You are strongly advised to deal with a US based supplier who will also be directly responsible for producing your order; many online web suppliers are actually sub-contracting the print work overseas, particularly to the Far East, where print work is conducted on old presses (usually sold off as obsolete from the US and elsewhere back in the 1970’s and 1980’s) – the quality is poor, the environmental impact is extremely high and you have very little control over the print process with extended turnaround times and almost no recourse if something goes wrong.

The moral of this story is to buy American!

Many people never even consider how a label can help them in the first instance so here is a brief list of typical label orders which can be fulfilled by a competent print and design partner – remember it will serve you well if you can keep work with the same supplier because it will reduce lead times, decrease design team input and as a supplier gets to know you better, they will be able to help you that much better too.

Here’s the list:

• Barcode labels
• Anniversary labels and seals
• Shipping labels
• Cheap or Value Labels
• Control Panel Graphic Overlays
• Custom integrated Shipping Labels
• Bespoke or Custom Labels
• Custom Wine Labels
• Parking Permits and Stickers
• Custom Short Run Labels
• Embossed Labels
• Four Color Process or CMYK Labels
• Hang Tags
• Medical and Veterinarian Office Labels
• Oil Change Stickers
• Personalized ID Tags
• Short Run Custom Labels
• Waterproof Labels
• Window Decals

In addition there is a growing interest in the personal use of labels and stickers.  It is quite common for orders to be placed for personalized stickers for kids; anniversary and birthday occasions; Christmas, Thanksgiving, 4^th July and New Years celebratory tags and sometimes any old occasion just for the fun of it such as a personalized beer label when you are having a family get-together.  Wine buffs have been getting in on the cheap label act by personalizing their wine for serving at table or weddings and such – it is a lot cheaper and is easier than you may think!

As we said at the very beginning, you are only restricted by your imagination in terms of what you have on the labels and stickers you want and what you are going to use them for – and it is definitely not going to break the bank either.

First of all, wine bottle labels do not have any impact on the quality of the wine in the bottle; in this respect, those producers who let the wine stand or fall on its own merits have the moral high ground but enjoying wine is simply about drinking it – it is the ambiance, the social setting and the sharing with friends and family.  In this light, an elegant bottle with a well-designed win bottle label simply adds to the sense of occasion which is being created around the simple act of sharing a glass of wine or two.

A counter view is that many younger drinkers tend to be put off by use of terms such as “Chateaux” or “Pouilly-Fusee”; regarding these terms as out-of-date and anachronistic – in other words, such old school wine terms do not go down well with younger, hipster generations.  Branding and proprietal wine bottle labels do become important in this regard, if a winery is looking to be successful in selling its produce.  The success of New World wines amongst US and younger drinkers has a lot to do with the playful simplicity of wine bottle labeling adopted by the wineries.

Now we’ve established that the look of the wine bottle and label have nothing to do with the drinking quality of the wine, let’s take a look at what is important when you read a wine label.

Country distinctions are apparent as different countries have different classification systems and regulations governing what a wine can claim to be.

France has long held onto the international reputation as the gold standard for wine production and classification with a system of “Appellation Controllee”; literally, controlling the name of the wine.  This system of wine classification is often confusing and intimidating to buyers who are unlikely to know that in Bordeaux there are 151 chateaux appellations while Burgundy has 110 – many buyers would not know where either region or area is on a map of France never mind what the differences are which establish the criteria for each appellation.  Spanish and Portuguese wineries guarantee authenticity by using a seal on the wine bottle label or by use of a band over the cork and which is overseen by the local wine growers association.  German wine labels are renowned for the detail they must carry including quality and style – a rough guide is that the longer the name of a German wine, the better quality it is.

New World wines are much more simplistic and contain clearer information for consumers notably, what the wine is, where it originates from and the grape variety.  Many winemakers in the US and Australia have moved away from using generic names for their wines because of the threat of litigation from the Old World areas where the name originates from, Champagne being a very good example.

Wine itself has been around for over 4,000 years with the Ancient Greeks enjoying a bottle over geometry or calculus, wine jars have also been found in the tombs of the ancient pharaohs from as far back as 3,500 years but just as interestingly, these jars also had wine labels on them.

Famous Wine Labels

The modern wine label came into being with a monk, Perignon who in the 1700’s, hand wrote his monastery’s famous wine labels onto parchment and this was then tied around the neck of the bottle. The manufacturer of glass took off at this time and much more varied shapes, colors and sizes were possible with improvement in glass-making techniques and this, coupled with vastly increased trading opportunities increased the consumption and variety of wine. There was a desperate need to tell the customer what they were about to drink.

Even back in the 1700 and 1800’s, marketing was necessary to sell your products and wine was no exception and while the bottle remained fairly standardized a great deal of flair was exercised in the design of the wine label. Older more established vineyards opted for a simpler style with less flowery design – after all they had a name and brand which by then had been around for a few hundred years; more recent labels had to do something to make up for the lack of history and this is where wine label design started to come into its own.

Here’s a good modern example with Baron Rothschild, the youngest of five brothers who opted to avoid working in the family bank – instead he bought a vineyard in France and started Mouton Rothschild which today is a relatively famous wine and brand. Reading the label will give the impression he has been around for a few hundred years replete as it is with the Baron’s coat of arms and crest – actually, his vineyard is based on someone else’s and he developed the brand to give an ‘old’ established feel using the wine label; in fact, his vineyard and brand have been around for about 40 years.

More custom wine labels.

There are a wealth of internet sites offering personalization services for wine for special occasions such as weddings and holiday celebrations but what is also remarkably ignored, are the services available to personalize any bottle and not just a fancy wine bottle either – think soda for instance!

Personalizing your own custom wine label does require a good idea of what will work and what does not – personalization is a double edged sword which can easily lead to a presentation disaster no matter how good the wine inside actually is.  The wine label for many is a certain symbol of the quality of the bottle which is why wine producers and distributors spend so much time and effort on creating a good looking bottle and label in the first place.

Check out the printing service offered and ensure that they provide help with the label design before you plunge into the personalization process.  Many internet suppliers do little more than provide templates which are bland and uninspiring and certainly nothing in the form of custom designs to suit your own particular requirements; this results in many wine and champagne bottles looking like cast off prizes from a cheap fairground instead of the bespoke and customized entertaining experience that a good label will produce.

You should also look for help in selecting your wines; this is where the really good wine label suppliers will stand out from those who are simply dabbling in the market – personalization means putting something of yourself into the end product and this creates an opportunity to demonstrate taste and something unique however, it is also an opportunity to get it completely wrong which will equally reflect upon you.

Make sure you select a supplier who is able to help you at all stages of the personalization and design process including helping you with your wine selection too.