Know Your Wine – The History of Labelling
The history of wine can traced back as far as 4000 BC, to the ancient Greeks. They believed that wine was a gift bestowed on them by the Gods, it was the nectar of the Gods. It is true to say that wine was held in great regard by various ancient civilisations, so much so that some of them even had gods dedicated to the vine. The Greeks worshipped Dionysus, while the Romans held Bacchus in high regard, and the ancient Egyptians buried their Pharaohs with best vintages.
The very first labelling of wine, if you can call it that, was discovered on an ancient Greek clay jar dating back to about 4000 BC that has the winemakers crest stamped on one of the handles. There was no information about the wine or region.
We have many things to thank the ancient Egyptians for, and among them is the the wine label. With the use of papyrus came the ability to record information. The earliest recordings of wine labels were discovered in the tomb of King Tut in 1922 by Howard Carter, one of the world’s leading Egyptologists. When the tomb was opened several jars of what was assumed to be the best vintages of the day were discovered with details of the wine etched on piece of ancient papyrus (paper). Like the wine labels of today, the information included vintage, region, vintner and grape type.
Fast forward several millennia to France to the late 17th century, to a small Benedictine monastery. It was here that cellar master, Pierre Perignon, used parchment and string to tie wine bottle labels to the necks of his prized bottles of champagne.
As wine production grew, so too did the regions, varietals and number of vineyards. As the industry grew, so too did the need for labels that contained all this information. The introduction of glass for bottling meant that there was now a need for these bottles to be labelled for easy identification.
The invention of the printing press was to revolutionise everything. It was in Germany in the 1780s that the first paper wine bottle label was printed. The Lithographic printing process meant that small labels could be produced in mass quantities with the information needed to identify the wine by region, type and maker.
As printing got more sophisticated so too did the nature of the labels. It was the great Champagne producers who first started using labels as a creative and identifying feature by implementing design and colour elements to their labels.
In the 1950s, legislation was passed that made it law for certain information to be on wine bottle labels, and this included where it was bottled, who bottled it, grape type, where the grapes came from, vintage, alcohol content and bottle volume.
At Asset Print, we have the specialised skills and knowledge to confidently say that we offer one of the best wine label printing services in the Western Cape. Our extensive experience and expertise means that not only do we know about the printing process, but we also understand about meeting deadlines and providing our wine producing clients with the best service at the best prices. Not only do we supply labels for the wine industry but we also print special runs for birthdays, corporate events or presents.
Contact us now for a more information or request a quotation online.
