The design of a wine label can make or break the success of a new wine introduced to the market.  Even beyond the quality of the wine itself, the label plays a primary role in the purchasing decisions of customers.  It is on this fact that many graphic designers have focused their attention to making creative, compelling labels that connect a bottle of wine with its buyer.  To celebrate the work of these designers, Here we have selected 30 of the most impressive wine label designs in recent history.  To read it right, we suggest you enjoy this list over a freshly popped glass of wine…
Inkwell Wine’s Rorschach-Inspired Wine Bottles
   
Meeta Panesar Wine Label Designs
   Meeta Panesar’s wine bottle designs were created as an homage to the Op Art movement and the work of artist Joseph Albers.  Panesar carried that Op Art tradition into these conceptual wine labels, some flush with color and geometry, others with tightly wrapped black-and-white lines.  While Meeta Panesar’s wine labels remain a packaging art concept, we’d love to see his work commissioned and produced. [link]
 Gut Oggau Portrait Wines
  
 
Neil Ashmead GTS
   Elderton Wines of Australia has bottled a wine in tribute to auto (and wine) enthusiast Neil Ashmead.  The Neil Ashmead GTS, or “Grand Tourer Shiraz” features a racing-styled label bearing Ashmead’s signature.  This bottle’s best attribute, however, is its’ six-speed stick shift screw-on cap.  The creatives at Fuller, an Australian ad agency, deserve plenty of praise for that idea.  [link]
Honey Moon Wine
    While we’ve never had the palette for sweet wines, this bottle by designer Lauren Golembiewski has our sweet tooth a-humming.  Golembiewski created the Honey Moon Wine concept as an annual gift to past and prospective clients in celebration of a budding summer.  The “honey moon” is the first full moon of the month of June, known as the perfect moment to begin the harvest of honey.  While the bottle is certainly an achievement of its own, Golembiewski also created the honey moon font as shown in the gallery below. [link]
 Versus Wine Pouch
  
Return of the Living Red
   
Sav Sparkling Wine
  
 Mini Garage Winery
   
 Lunar Vine Wine
   Lunar Vine Wine wanted to add a dash of color to their bottles– who better to hire, then, than UK design firm DeathByColor?  DBC created these wild wine bottles as lush and colorfully explosive as they could be.  While this tends to communicate “these wines taste like soda pop”, we can certainly appreciate the artist’s vision.  Our favorite is the Shiraz, it is no surprise that we go for the most colorfully conservative… [link]
 Matsu Organic Wine
  A quick glance at these bottles instantly communicates this winery’s main value– three generations of expertise.  The Matsu Organic Wine bottles show the history of this wine from grandfather to grandson, showing the focus this family has put into its grape over these generations.  Each label represents a different wine from Matsu, “El Pícaro”, “El Recio” and “El Viejo”– each with it’s own personality and flavor. [link]
  Segreto Wine
  
 Let It Grow Wine Bottles
  
 Francis Ford Coppola “Carmine” Wine Jug
  
Shefa Profusion Wine
   
The Logan Weemala Wine Collection
   In name and in symbol, the Logan Weemala Wine Collection faithfully represents its homeland.  “Weemala” is the name of the region where these grapes were grown, and is the aboriginal word for “good view”.  To give this collection a face, War Design selected five birds common to the Weemala region, making each a symbol for one of Weemala’s varietals.  The end result is a simple, playful and attractive series of labels for a great Australian winery. [link]
 Laughing Stock Wine
  The designers at Laughing Stock Wine took a literal approach to designing their label.  A stock ticker twists and wraps around the bottle, displaying the basic details of the wine contained within.  The name of the wine is displayed as a stock symbol, “LFNG”, with the vintage year below it.  In all, the design does an excellent job of conveying the character of the brand. [link]
Boarding Pass Shiraz
   An instant classic, the Boarding Pass Shiraz label is one of the most creative theme-based designs in recent years.  The front label is essentially a boarding pass with the travel details replaces with information about the wine.  This 2005 Shiraz has been a big hit in the world of packaging design, encompassing the entire air travel experience in one bottle.  [link]
 DolceVita Wines
  Designer Romulo Castilho gave DolceVite Wines a veritable fireworks display for their packaging.  In a true Carnival fashion, these Brazilian wine labels explode with color, gold for the light and purple for the dark.  Sleek and sophisticated, Castilho’s designs served DolceVita a strong statement for their labels.  [link]
Saddler’s Creek Winery “Naked” Wine Bottles
   Saddler’s Creek Naked Wine Bottles remove the label altogether, leaving nothing but naked glass in its place.  The name and details about the wine are then printed directly onto the bottle with a gold ink for Chardonnay, purple for Merlot.  These bottles were designed to stand out from a lineup of paper labeled bottles, and from a quick glance– they certainly succeed. [link]
The Wine Case Lamp by Ciclus
   In a society where consumption nearly always ends with waste, the Wine Case Lamp is a bold statement.  After you finish this bottle, its case can be constructed into a fully functional (and well-designed) slatted lamp.  Just pop the cork, fill up a few glasses and let there be light.  [link]
Duffy and Partners Holiday Wine
    To share some holiday cheer with it’s friends, family, employees and clients, the firm of Duffy and Partners sent out this well-designed bottle of Holiday Wine.  “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas,” exclaims this bottle’s label.  While we love the illustration and the creative vision for the bottle, we’re having a tough time getting past the little mark on the back which shows “0% alcohol”… [link]
 B Frank Wine
   The best part about B Frank Wine’s label is the part you add yourself.  If it’s time for a heart-to-heart with a friend, co-worker or lover, this is the bottle you want to have handy.  Just be frank, speak your mind and get it out in the open.  This design is the work of Talia Cohen for the B Frank digital marketing agency.  Quite frankly, we love it. [link] 
 
 USB Port Wine
 Due to a recent law, if a specific wine doesn’t come from Portugal, it can no longer be called “port”.  So to sidestep this little legality, Peltier Station Winery and 6 West Design devised the “USB Port Wine”.  The label comes as close to saying “port” as possible, without actually saying it– even spelling out “im_ant” and “_folio” on the rear side of the bottle.  The binary code above the name on the front also spells out Peltier Station Winery, completing the look on this design. [link] Vine Parma Wine
 Designer Raya Ivanovskaya has put a wealth of cultural flavor into the Vine Parma Wine design.  Wrapping around this bottle are hieroglyphics, totems and a mystic language telling tales of times past.  Inserted subtly into this design are the basic details about the wine– including a bar code, distribution information, alcohol content and more.  This is more than just a wine bottle, it’s a work of art…  [link] 
 
Dada Wine
 Suckers for a good typeface will fall for the design of Dada Wine in a heartbeat.  This progressive bottle design features a fresh, bubbly, bold and golden logo taking up most of the front label space.  The signature Dada hand supports the logo, while the business end of this design is moved to the back, justified to the left.  Order one of these, it’ll arrive in a case sharing the same fresh branding as the bottle of Dada wine itself. [link] 
 
 Elk and Wolf Chardonnay
 Elk and Wolf Chardonnay wants to serve their wine cold– so cold, in fact, that only aluminum could properly do the trick.  The only problem there is that wine aficionados don’t only want their Chardonnay cold, they want it in a glass bottle.  To help sell this unusual container to a group who might avoid it, SocialUK gave this aluminum bottle a classy, refined look.  If you’re going to reach for an aluminum bottle of Chardonnay, SocialUK worked pretty hard to make sure that it is this one. [link] 
 
 Ben Schiller’s TwentyFour Wine
Designer Ben Schiller has made his mark using ordinary objects to create new designs.  His TwentyFour Wine continues this technique with a label inspired by rubber bands– and a cork sealed by one.  The name TwentyFour describes the circumference of the wine bottle at exactly 24 cm.  In all, this work represents an interesting take on the wine label, and refreshing inspiration on the part of Ben Schiller.  [link] 
 
Lazarus Wine’s Braille Wine Bottle
 While this label may be a tough read for the layman, its design is strikingly attractive to those who cannot understand its language.  The Lazarus Wine bottle features a label printed in big, bold braille with either a black or yellow background.  There is an English description at it’s base for those who can’t feel what this wine is about, but that’s precisely why we like it– it’s the mystery of this one that makes us want to pop the cork. [link] 
 
Very Chic Wine Samplers
 All you need to get to know a good wine is to take a slow, calculated and careful sip.  Very Chic Wine hopes to make an impression before you sample with this attractive, floral-inspired packaging.  For the potential buyers, customers and friends of Very Chic Wine, this packaging certainly makes a strong statement about the quality of the wine contained within.  [link]