Stone Mountain Vineyards

Creative Agency: Watermark Design
Designer: Jena Thielges
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Client: Stone Mountain Vineyards
Location: Virginia, USA
Packaging Contents: Wine
Packaging Materials: Paper Label, Copper Foil

At 1,700 ft., family-owned Stone Mountain Vineyards is one of the highest vineyards in all of Virginia. We defined their elevation as their competitive difference, and built the brand around it. Since the primary goal of the wine label redesign was to increase tasting room traffic, our approach was to design a system that conveys the magnificent view and to define Stone Mountain as a destination winery. Through a scenic pen and ink illustration on a label that wraps the bottle, their unique cloud covered view engulfs the label. By featuring an image recognizable to customers, it encourages visitors to purchase a keepsake bottle when visiting, and also helps to quickly tell the story of Stone Mountain on-shelf at market. Through discussion and research, we uncovered an icon of Stone Mountain: The black bear. Bear-sightings are prevalent on the vineyard, due to it’s secluded location and high elevation within the Blue Ridge mountains. For the reserve tier, we illustrated a bear and the vineyard view, double exposed, all printed in copper foil. The stoic, elegant stance of the bear, reflects the high quality of wine in the reserve tier. The label color’s shift from whites to reds and by tiers, but all varietals are united by the vineyard view and pop of copper foil, reflecting the copper light fixtures from the tasting room.

What’s Unique?
The heavily detailed bear illustration was potentially challenging to foil due to the very fine line work, but was successfully achieved through a close partnership with the label printer.