Bennies celebrate labels

This year's winners included two packages with outstanding labels. One is used for bottles of wine (left) produced by Fife Vineyards. Dennis Fife, president and owner of the St. Helena, CA-based vintner, said that he once saw a wine bottle with a red-striped back label. "I was really intrigued as to how striking the simple bright red was. You could see it clear across the room." For his own company's labels, Fife applied a similar color scheme. Colonna-Farrell (St. Helena, CA) helped with graphic design and Ben Franklin Press (Napa Valley, CA) converts the paper labels. Each is a 71# label stock, offset-printed in three colors plus gold embossing and a tinted varnish. To achieve the dense colors, Franklin Press used Toyo Inks, strongly pigmented inks from Japan. Still, three passes were necessary to give the color intensity Fife was seeking, an added expense for the company. "The hot-stamping is something I also feel very strongly about," says Fife. "It really makes the colors pop." The labels are glue-applied to a dark green glass bottle, imported from Denmark, which looks black when filled. Sold throughout most of the country, Fife Vineyards bottles eight varieties. A special reserve version uses a bright purple label in lieu of red. Suggested retail prices range from $17 to $30. Labeling renaissance Another Benny winner with a standout label is San Francisco-based Columbus Co., which has been producing salami and lunch meats for more than 80 years. For its Renaissance line (below), introduced a year and a half ago, the company upgraded its entire look. Says packaging broker Jaye Johnson of Artico (San Francisco, CA), "The update was a massive change because Columbus has about thirty different brands." The Renaissance line itself consists of about 25 products. Pentagram (San Francisco, CA) handled graphic design, featuring an updated logo and graphics pertaining to product information against a picturesque background. McCoy Label (Petaluma, CA) flexo prints the pressure-sensitive 60# high-gloss paper label from Fasson (Painesville, OH) in six colors plus a UV gloss varnish. The labels are placed directly over the meats, which are then vacuum packed. The result is a high-gloss label that looks more like plastic than paper. "They've done a beautiful job," says Johnson.