Labels 82, hand-stamped wine labels made with vineyard soil

For the 82 wine from Celler ERAVi, in the Penedès, we created hand-stamped wine labels printed with an ink made from the soil of the winery’s own vineyards. We wanted a label that spoke of origin without having to explain it: the material itself would carry the vineyard.

The challenge

Plenty of wine labels claim to be handmade or rooted in the land, but they only say so in words. The challenge was to make that idea visible and tangible. The Penedès is the wine and cava region southwest of Barcelona, and ERAVi is a winery there, revived by a young winemaker who works with respect for the environment and for the generations before him. The 82 wine had to reflect that commitment.

It needed to feel warm, honest and different from the clean, industrial look that dominates part of the sector, without falling into rustic cliché.

The process: soil ink and hand stamping

The process was hands-on from start to finish. We made an ink from the soil of the vineyards and stamped each label by hand, one at a time. No machine repeats the same gesture: the texture and density of the ink depend on the hand that stamps and on the earth mixed into it.

The number 82 is the protagonist. It appears reversed out in white, cut into a grainy, earth-toned field with an irregular texture that recalls both soil and the imprint of a stamp. We did not correct the flaws: the heavier and lighter areas of ink are part of the drawing. Against the dark glass of the bottle, the contrast between the white number and the earthy tone keeps the label legible even against the light, as the photographs taken among the vines show.

The range includes a white, a rosé and a red, and all three share the same stamped label. Lined up, they work as a family, even though no two bottles are exactly alike.

The result

Every label is slightly different, and that difference is the proof that it was made by hand. The result is a warm label that tells of manual work, of roots and of the effort behind every bottle. The project images show the bottles on a stone ledge, on an old vine stump and on a wooden crate, settings that fit the craft behind them.

This is the kind of packaging work that interests us most: starting from a real material and a real gesture, not from a design effect. When the origin of a product can be touched, it takes very little text to explain it.

The project is part of our ongoing relationship with the ERAVi winery, for which we also designed the Esvalot label.