Breaking the Mold

For the Sept. 2025 issue of Oregon Wine Press. Online version is HERE.

While you may not judge a book by its cover, there’s a good chance you choose a wine by its label.

Nearly 80 percent of wine buyers indicate that their purchase decisions are primarily guided by the label alone, according to a recent survey.

Wineries aim to create labels that remind consumers of the brand while standing out on a supermarket or wine shop’s “wall of wine.” Hoping to build brand loyalty, most seek consistency across different cuvées with minimal changes in label copy and design from bottle to bottle.

“They're marketing on their name, and they're marketing on a look for their packages, and they've built that one particular brand,” explains Chris Noud, who designs wine packaging at NowDesign Creative Services Inc.

Some Oregon wineries are bucking the usual trend by creating unique labels for each wine or stock keeping unit (SKU). The labels have different designs but maintain a consistent “family feel” across the brand’s lineup.

“I think people are just having a little bit more fun with their label design, and they're looking for ways to not only speak to their brand story in a quick consumer-facing manner, but they're just having a little bit more fun with telling that story,” observes Sarah Brown, who covers packaging trends for Wine Business Monthly.

“Humans are incredibly visual creatures,” she continues. “You're going to see something and remember it much quicker and easier than the blurb on the back of a bottle. So I think having that unique artwork between SKUs within a single brand can be really impactful.”

“I admire the creativity involved in that,” said Noud, “especially if you can use that creativity. I guess that's part of your brand.”

For three Oregon winemakers, varied label designs show not only their company identity but also their personal life stories.

JACKALOPE WINE LABEL

JACKALOPE

First, a definition: The jackalope is a mythical creature described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns. The word is a portmanteau of “jackrabbit” and “antelope.” It’s believed to have originated in the 1930s at a taxidermy practice in Douglas, Wyoming. However, several other locations across the American West and Midwest also claim to be the birthplace of this mythic beast. The legend incorporates themes from older times and cultures and has appeared in books, movies and many corners of popular culture.

As a child, Corey Schuster learned about the jackalope through correspondence with an older cousin who lived in Nebraska. “He was 25 years older,” he recalls. “It was a way for us to relate to something to sort of bond over.” Messages inviting Schuster to visit and hunt the jackalope were sent on picture postcards showing the beast. The cousin passed away when Schuster was a teenager, leaving him with warm memories and a heartfelt connection to the story—and, later, a jackalope tattoo on a shoulder.

After working in cellars around the Willamette Valley, Schuster now guides winemaking activities at the AVP Wine Collective in Portland and helms his own brand, Jackalope Wine Cellars.

As he founded his brand, he was guided by his affection for the image and his history with it. “[It’s] a sort of totem that’s been with me at… significant stages of my life,” he explained. Kailyn Rich, a graphic artist he described as a friend of a friend, crafted the original logo and a design language that is whimsical but not silly. Through the years, Schuster has partnered with other artists to develop the many depictions of the beast found on his labels.

“I'm trying to make wines that are fun, well-made, but playful, and price them at a point where I want them to be kind of as close to an everyday drinker for as many people as possible,” Schuster said. The label designs aim to straddle the line between fun and serious.

The brand's offerings also straddle the border between Oregon and Washington. Along with Oregon’s ubiquitous Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, Jackalope offers Viognier and red Bordeaux varieties sourced from vineyards to the north.

“I'm in the Northwest, I'm trying to make wines that are reflective of the region,” Schuster explains. “We want to be local. But some of my Washington vineyards are closer to Portland than some of my Southern Oregon vineyards, which are five hours away.”

LOS ROCOSOS

Winemaker Roger Lemstrom is a visual person.

“I love creative people, and I love featuring their art on a label,” he affirms.

His eclectic taste in imagery is displayed on every bottle produced at Los Rocosos Vineyard. The name originates from the Spanish word for “rocky,” fitting for its location in The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater American Viticultural Area (AVA) on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla Valley. Fruit grown on Lemstrom’s eight-acre estate is supplemented by purchased grapes, producing a range of wines including Albariño and Tempranillo, as well as Rhône, Italian and Bordeaux varieties.

Some of the label designs originate with a personal connection. “I've got a young Ethiopian artist that I'm going to feature on a bottle who started off as a wine customer, and she sent me photographs,” he related. “I selected one to be featured on a bottle of Nebbiolo.” Upon the death of another featured artist, Lemstrom sent the vintage’s last two bottles to the artist’s sister.

Ethnic art, open stock museum images and photographs of yarn art and slumped glass all find a place in the portfolio. The label for the Gustavo y Paco Estate Sangiovese features Lemstrom’s photo of his two German shepherds. “Our customers call that dog wine,” he said. “They’ll drive up in a hurry… and yell from their cars, ‘I’ve got a party tonight. I need half a dozen bottles of the dog wine.’”

As a boutique producer in a burgeoning wine region, Lemstrom sees his packaging as a way to stand out. “It's a mom and pop operation, so I needed to separate myself and create a distinct brand,” he notes. The vast diversity of label imagery pays homage to the area by embracing local artists, rodeo culture, the nearby Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indians and the Hispanic heritage of his mother’s family.

“This is ranch and farming country, and we’ve got interesting cultural collisions that work,” he observed, reflecting on how the area’s wide-ranging traditions blend at regional events.

“I like to spread the joy of the visual arts to our consumers and people,” he said, summing up his approach. His spouse and business partner, Lucinda, added, “I've also heard it said that a bottle of wine is a perfect souvenir for the perfect day. And how better to have a great souvenir than with exquisite wine with really interesting art on the label?”

HUMAN CELLARS

Every wine at Human Cellars is named and labeled after a conversation between founders Emily and Bryan Berenguer. During two decades of living and traveling in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, their lives were transformed by the people they met along the way. Some were winemakers, some were agents of positive change in their local context. Now they seek to honor these friends under the slogan, “Thoughtful wines inspired by extraordinary humans.”

“We kind of sit down and think who, in our time being overseas for over 20 years, kind of inspired us to be better people,” Bryan explains. “And so we'll make the wine kind of reflect that person, and also the label will reflect that person or the place where that person lives or is from.”

Their Viognier is named after the Corsican village of Lozzi, home of their friend Myriam, who inspires others with her reverence for nature and independent spirit. Sayar Mah is a title given to fearless, innovative women in Myanmar and is the name of their Pinot Noir/Gamay blend. Öde to Rüdi pays tribute to a biodynamic winemaker in Germany’s Mosel Valley.

The conversation between Bryan and Emily leads to Emily creating the artwork for each label. “A lot of time it lands on, what are they doing in their local community? Which is why a lot of times the labels describe, or the imagery is tied, to their place and where they're affecting positive change,” she said. “And so it isn't just a picture of the person. It's kind of the space in which they are—their work.”

Both Berenguers are educators. Bryan teaches in the wine studies department at Chemeketa Community College, and Emily is an elementary classroom teacher. Her interest in visual art was sparked while drawing alongside her father as a child and led her to study art while pursuing her degrees in French and Spanish literature. After trying various media, she has settled on what she describes as an “ink-driven” style that incorporates gouache and marker.

“I started making… single line drawing books, and then some of those drawings have sort of informed the style that's in most of the labels,” she recalls. “I would say most of them have a similar style.”

“We try to do as much in-house as possible,” notes Bryan, a philosophy that reflects the vigneron cultures they encountered in Europe. It also keeps both Berenguers busy tending their vineyard and orchard, making low-intervention, biodynamic wine and packaging it in ways that honor their friends around the world.

Breaking from conventional branding wisdom can create deep connections with consumers. In an increasingly crowded marketplace, these Oregon winemakers prove that authenticity and creativity can be just as powerful as consistency in building brand recognition and customer loyalty. The label isn't just marketing—it’s an extension of their identity and a celebration of the diverse influences that shape both their wines and their lives.