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Time Family of Wines Stages a Packaging 'Evolution'
A packaging redesign defines the luxury of Time’s Evolve brand using nontraditional design elements, luxury cues, and a youthful flair.
4 Min Read
CF Napa Brand Design
At a Glance
- Premium, non-traditional labeling for sparkling wines targets key buyers, millennials and oenophiles.
- The new packaging will debut in coordination later this year with the opening of the new Evolve winery.
- A shift in toward more direct-to-consumer channels will also coincide with the redesign and the new winery's opening.
Time Family of Wines, a Canadian company, has redesigned the packaging for its Evolve Cellars sparkling and still wines to create premium brand positioning with particular appeal for two consumer segments, local wine aficionados and millennials.
Time makes wines in the Okanagan Valley, a terroir in south-central British Columbia. The company worked with CF Napa Brand Design on the Evolve packaging redesign, which will launch later this year when Time’s new winery in Penticton, British Columbia, opens.
Several distinctive design elements elevate the new packaging, including a round label on the front of the sparkling-wine bottles. The round, black label includes no text and a single graphic: The letter “e” formed from a spiral of gold-foil diamonds.
Bottles for the sparkling wines — Brut Rosé, Brut Premiere, and Brut Nature — are decorated with a neck label printed with the type of wine and vintage. The bruts’ color-coded capsules, in pink, gold, and blue, further differentiate the sparklers.
Packaging for Evolve’s still wines feature metallic-gold printing on a rectangular white label for Rosé and white wines, and on a black label for the reds. The brand name, varietal, vintage, and appellation of origin (Okanagan Valley) are printed on the still-wine labels, in addition to the spiral “e.”
We asked David Schuemann, owner and creative principal, CF Napa Brand Design, some questions about the commanding new Evolve packaging. Get the inside story in this exclusive Packaging Digest interview.
Brut sparkling wines (left) feature color-coded neck labels and, along with still wines, feature the metallic fold-foil 'e' logo. Image: CF Napa Brand Design
Why did Time Family of Wines choose to redesign the packaging for Evolve wines?
Schuemann: Time Family of Wines wanted to redesign the brand prior to opening its new Evolve winery. They wanted to position the sparkling wines as their flagship offering and create a more premium look that appealed to both millennials and British Columbia wine enthusiasts.
Although the wine was coming from world-class Okanagan terroir, the brand messaging and package design presented the brand as an entry-level wine, and consumers and wholesale buyers perceived the brand as lower quality when placed next to other sparkling or Okanagan wines.
Why did Time specifically target millennials and British Columbia oenophiles with this redesign?
Schuemann: Millennials are an ever-growing group of wine consumers who value quality wines. Unlike generations before them, they gravitate toward sparkling wines for everyday drinking as opposed to enjoying only for celebrations or special occasions.
British Columbia consumers prefer to support locally, so appealing to the local wine enthusiast was important. These are the consumers who will visit the winery and hopefully become ambassadors of the brand.
Image: CF Napa Brand Design
How does the new package design appeal to these consumers?
Schuemann: Millennials are often drawn to wine packages that are less traditional or that have some sort of “aha!” detail. The spiral icon developed by CF Napa became the central graphic on the labels and recognizable icon for the brand. Embossed gold-foil diamonds gradually “evolve” in size to create a hypnotic “e” and create a subtle nod to the bubbles in sparkling wines.
In addition, gold foil and embossing create quality cues that visually signal to the consumer the quality of the wines, allowing the brand to stand comfortably within the competitive set at the wines’ price point. The colorful capsules not only provide a youthful pop of color, they also help differentiate between each type of sparkling wine within the Evolve family.
What’s the price point for Evolve wines?
Schuemann: C$35 to C$80 (about US$25 to US$58).
Did Time have any other goals for the Evolve packaging redesign?
Schuemann: The new design needed to reflect the change in positioning implemented by CF Napa. Evolve’s messaging [shifted from] “celebrate every moment” to “life is an ever-changing journey, full of moments worth celebrating. Evolve wines live with you, marking time and inspiring moments that move you.”
The new positioning was a bit more serious and connected better to the brand name. The design also needed to convey the quality of the wine through a more premium look that unified the still- and sparkling-wine portfolio.
What was the biggest creative or technical challenge in executing this redesign?
Schuemann: The balance of nontraditional design elements with luxury cues. We used more traditional premium design elements, like a black label and gold foil, along with a nontraditional design and colorful capsules to help maintain this balance.
When will the new packaging launch?
Schuemann: The new packaging will relaunch in coordination with the opening of the new Evolve winery, which is likely to be toward the end of 2024.
Where are the wines sold?
Schuemann: Currently BC Liquor Stores, grocery stores, private liquor stores, direct-to-consumer, and on-premise. However, strategy will shift more toward direct-to-consumer channels after the new winery opens.
Is labeling and filling of Evolve wines automated, manual, or a combination?
Schuemann: A combination of manual and automated.
Where are the Evolve wines produced and bottled?
Schuemann: The wines are produced at the Penticton winery and bottled at nearby Artus Bottling.
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