Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 13
Goodbye Owl, Hello Château
Despite our fears about the wines we got on with planning our first bottling. Sean invited a
bottling company to a meeting so they could explain the choices for this auspicious process.
Jean-Philippe arrived in a smart suit. He talked a lot but didn't tell Sean anything.
'We need to make sure we get everything right well in advance of the bottling: bottles,
corks, capsules, labels, people, machinery. We stress before the day, not on the day and ab-
solutely not after the day.'
'But how much does it cost?' asked Sean.
'I'll send you a quote.'
'What choices do we have?'
'I'll send you the options.'
Sean told him exactly how much wine we planned to bottle and Jean-Phillippe said he
could organise bottles, corks and the bottling plant; all we had to sort out were the labels.
We had been working on label ideas for months. We sent a presentation of our ideas to ten
friends. I liked the image of an owl that was on a third of the label examples. I felt it gave
the messages we wanted to deliver: natural, elegant, powerful; plus, we had one living in the
roof. Soon responses were pouring in.
'The owl looks like an Australian brand. You need to look more French.'
'I'll be brutally frank, you cannot have a sun which conjures up images of light, alongside
an owl which conjures up night-time images.' It was supposed to be a moon but client's per-
ception is everything. 'We like the curly writing and the French look of your original label.'
'Do not use curly writing. No one can read the words.'
'The owl makes it look like Wolf Blass. Not what I would buy, but maybe you'll appeal to
the average punter.'
'The owl makes it look like whiskey. You need to have a picture of a château on the label
so you look French.'
'All the wines with a château on the label look the same. I can never remember what it was
so I never buy it again even if I like it.'
