Millennials targeted with colour-coded labels

Napa-based Uproot Wines is attempting to capture a new demographic of wine drinkers with its range of wines featuring colour-only, wordless labels driven by social media.

Its labels indicate the wines flavour by corresponding colours, a code not explained on the label, with users instead required to explore the company’s social media platforms to unlock its colour code.

There is no doubt that millennials, aged from 21 to 35, is one of the demographics being targeted by the web savvy company which currently produces a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Grenache and Grenache Blanc, as reported by the Napa Valley Register. 

It’s priced range ranges from its least expensive wine, a $34 Grenache Blanc, to its Howell Mountain Cabernet at $78.

The company was started by Jay Levy, a venture capitalist based in New York involved with many tech startups, who started a company with two fellow students having studied finance at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Uproot Wines was developed by Levy with Greg Scheinfeld, the company’s Napa-based winemaker and partner.

Grapes for its wines, its inaugural year all from the 2011 vintage, are bought from both Napa Valley and Santa Ynez in Santa Barbara County with Scheinfeld making the wine at Somerston Winery – a “custom-crush” winery in Soda Valley.

Each label features a visual “flavour palette” indicating its flavour profile, with each colour block representing a different aroma, with the size of each block indicating its dominance in the profile.

For example, Uproots Sauvignon Blanc label features a light green block for melon and yellow for grapefruit, followed by a bright green for fresh-cut grass, medium green for citrus and purple for passion fruit, while the Grenache Blanc label highlights flavours of petrol and bubblegum.

Scheinfeld said: “We’re a new kind of winery, a winery for millennials, and we take a new approach.”