Reading the Wine Label

By Tom Kerchiss, RK Print Coat Instruments

Wine labels occupy a relatively small area of real estate on the bottle, nevertheless they must incorporate a lot of information, some of which is associated with the provenance of the wine or is there to meet legislative requirements. For instance, in an age of the emoji most alcoholic products now incorporate a logo to dissuade or warn against imbibing during pregnancy.

Colour, graphics, logos and text with flair are in essence there to put a face to the product. The more cynical may say ‘window dressing.’  Graphic enhancement, colour and other forms of value-added inducements generally are confined to front of house so to speak and serve to some extent to persuade the often-confused consumer to give that wine a try out rather than perhaps the wine sitting next to it on the retail shelf.

The majority of wines use the rear of a wrap-around label, or an additional second label for legislative content and - What is this wine about? This reverse or secondary label is of great importance. The front label attracts and encourages pick up and handling, the secondary label can be the clincher -through reading a closer connection is made with the consumer.

Wine can be about many things, it can evoke memories, act as a relaxant and for many people is a nice shared experience. Wine is tied in with and associated with a country’s cultural and social make up, which is certainly the case with places such as France and many countries boarding the Mediterranean. Wine for some is a way of life; it is a social lubricant, a good accompaniment to meals; for some wine and wine tasting is a pleasure and a hobby, for some knowledge of wine takes on a form of snobbery.

For the majority of shoppers, those with little if any knowledge of wine purchasing wine is a voyage of discovery. Some will buy by region and by country; some make the purchase based on the fact that they know they like Sauvignon or an Australian Barossa Valley white. According to research many of us are conservative with price range and a good-looking label influencing purchasing decisions.

Labels have to look good, unlike in the past when wine in many countries was sold in liquor stores wine is now widely sold in supermarkets. In the UK for instance 75 percent of sales is accounted for by the big supermarket chains. Wine is often bought as an impulse purchase and marketing research indicates that less than a minute may be spent examining a wine prior to either making the decision to purchase or putting it back on the retailer’s shelf. So, labels have to make an impression.

In recent times competitive challenges, increasing sophistication in label design and the emergence of new face stock material has resulted in the development of better performing UV coatings and varnishes. These coatings together with a willingness to experiment with various value-added processes have enabled label converters to add value to the products and attract the interest of consumers.

When designing a coating or varnish, durability has been high on the agenda. Improvements in energy curable technology and the introduction of innovative consumable materials and base stock is also enabling product producers to better tackle issues such as abrasive wear. Because bottles with labelling tend to rub and bump against one another during transportation or when stacked on the retail shelf or being handled the point of impact coupled with friction could affect print quality.

Consistency of product quality and output or to put in more succinctly, presentation is critical. When it comes to shelf appeal UV inks have a lot going for them. Take UV flexo or example: the inks high solids content means that an average UV flexo ink provides for high gloss, high scuff resistance and protection against heat and chemicals. These properties make it ideal for wine labelling on glass bottles and on other products that may be subject to scuffing and abrasion as previously mentioned.

The ability to turn out a finished product, a roll of labels inline and if properly cured, rewound without risk of blocking is advantageous, especially when short runs are concerned (wine labelling tends to be short JIT).

Printing with UV ink can make for a visually attractive product. The low VOC content and the fact that the inks stay open on the press are all advantageous advantages, though some users do still struggle with consistency from press to press.

An understanding or appreciation of the release characteristics of the ink in relation to the anilox roll is important. Although a printer may obtain good results using a 60-degree hexagonal designed anilox with water-based inks, the thicker properties of UV inks may generate turbulence at the ink transfer point.

Rather than bridging from one cell to the next, the fluidity of the ink can generate a tidal wave effect so that when the doctor blade meters the ink, this tidal wave spills over and causes the blade to chatter. This can result in problems such as ink spitting as well as blemishes on the surface of the printed surface. Hence the need to experiment and ensure that the anilox selected is optimised for the process.

UV flexo compares favourably with screen when high impact colour is required, which is often the case when it comes to producing high quality wine labels.
Obtaining colour consistency can be challenging at the best of times, even more so when dealing with UV inks. Handling requirements of UV inks are often different, short runs, time constraints and the need to colour match and control other process variables as speedily as possible is critical.

An additional problem when using UV cured flexo inks is that obtaining proofs using conventional methods does not highlight blemishes such as pinholes. The reason for this is that during the time taken to generate a proof and then take it to a typical UV conveyor chemical reaction will have taken place causing the surface properties to change, masking blemishes that may result in the customer refusing delivery.

The FlexiProof UV and a variant the FlexiProof LED UV, both of which incorporate an integral and miniaturised UV curing system will detect pin holes and other blemishes. They can be used to determine printability issues such as gloss, durability, flexibility, chemical resistance, rub resistance, etc., and can be used for trialling purposes and for determining how inks and substrates, etc react over time.

In recent times scientists and technologist have obtained a better understanding of light manipulation and UV heat management. This has made it possible to design and develop LED UV curing technology for use with and on specific heat sensitive substrates in the pre-press production environment. With LED UV there is minimal heat/energy transfer to the substrate; they are ozone free and are fully operational at the flick of a switch.

The LED UV lamps employed with RK Print Coat Instruments FlexiProof LED UV offer a tailored output either at the important 385 or 395nm wavelength.

Colour is often subtle but an influential element in graphic design. Slight variations in colour can comprise the brand and impact on sales. Colour communication devices, proofing or as they are often referred to as sampling devices have an increasingly important role to play in packaging and premium quality labelling. The FlexiProof family of devices are for users and producers of flexo inks, but devices such as the GP100 meet the proofing requirements of gravure printers; other systems and tools, also available from RK Print Coat Instruments include the K Printing Proofer for offset gravure, gravure and flexo inks.  

RK Print Coat Instruments Ltd
Litlington, Royston, Hertfordshire SG8 0QZ 
www.rkprint.com sales@rkprint.com

Source: RK Print Coat Instruments Ltd