Crown Cellars funks up own-label range

Crown Cellars, the specialist wine and spirits division of Carlsberg UK, has launched an on-trade exclusive range of wines with ‘funky’ labels to appeal to new wine consumers.

Louise Boddington said Crown Cellars’ new own-label range took inspiration from the innovative presentation of craft beer and cider labels (Photo: Crown Cellars)

Revealing the new own-label win range at the Crown Cellar portfolio tasting at Oxo Tower on London’s South Bank, wine buyer Louise Boddington said the collection is aimed at consumers who are “looking for something a bit different” and those who may have been put off wine in the past due to “stuffy and confusing wine labels and language”.  

Created by a Crown Cellars team led by Boddington and Jonathan Pedley MW, the range includes the ‘Box of Budgies’ New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (it is a saying in New Zealand that when all is right with the world, ‘everything’s a box of budgies’), the ‘Clockwork Raven’, Chilean Merlot and an Argentinian Malbec called ‘Bone Orchard’.

All have distinctive labels to appeal to the younger wine drinker and are “as far removed as possible from traditional wine packaging”, according to Crown Cellars.

Continuing with the quirky theme, a further new collection, ‘Bad Eye Deer’, has been developed, including a French Sauvignon Blanc, an Australian Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon blend and a Zinfandel Rosé from the US.

All of the wines in the new range will be available exclusively in the on-trade.

Boddington explained how Crown Cellars’s new labels had taken inspiration from the innovative labelling and branding of the craft beer category, acknowledging that steps had to be taken to broaden wine’s appeal given that the wine category as a whole was shrinking,

Crown Cellar’s Bad Eye Deer Sauvignon Blanc

“They’re quite edgy, quite funky,” she said, “and it’s in line really with the explosion of craft beer. I think we’re all aware that the wine category is losing drinkers – people tend to think its a bit stuffy and nothing new is happening. These labels just gives a different angle to the list.”

Crown Cellars wine sales are up 12% year on year in volume terms, the company said. This represents a significant outperformance of the wine market as a whole, in which volume sales dropped by 2% year on year, according to WSTA’s Q1 2016 market analysis.

Pedley also emphasised that the new labels were a nod to the success of craft beer brands in appealing to younger consumers.

“Our aim with these new wines is to bring new consumers in to wine and to encourage current wine consumers to trial new grape varieties, and new flavours through fun, appealing, contemporary packaging,” Pedley said.

“The names and labels are designed to create standout and compete not only with other wines but also other categories, such as craft beer and cider, who have done a fantastic job in bringing new consumers in with appealing language and marketing.”