Three Choirs undergoes complete rebrand

Three Choirs vineyard near Newent in Gloucestershire has rebranded and relabeled its entire range of wines.

The vineyard, located midway between the Cotswolds and the Forest of Dean, was established in the early 1970s and has been producing wine for over 40 years. 

It’s around 10 years since the wines were last relabelled. Explaining the decision to rebrand now, Thomas Shaw, managing director at Three Choirs says: “English wine is now truly established and there is a lot of consumer and on trade interest in learning about and drinking wine that is grown and produced here.  We are proud to be one of the longest established English vineyards and it’s appropriate that our labels reflect our heritage, terroir and identity. With that in mind, we briefed leading wine label designers, Amphora Design, to create a new brand ID and label design to capture the essence and express the values of Three Choirs”.

Jane Coggins, project manager at Amphora reflects: “Thomas communicated the winemakers’ desire for a suite of labels that reflect the vital connection between the wines themselves, the vineyard and the landscape. We turned to the English traditional arts of woodcutting and printmaking to convey both a strong sense of place as well as values such as craftsmanship and the human touch. The back label reveals how each wine fits into the ‘bigger picture’ of Three Choirs vineyards. With a consistent and confident overall look and feel, each wine carries its own identity, often linked to real locations in and around the vineyard that have given their names to some of the wines, such as May Hill.”

Local illustrator Jane Randfield who has worked as a freelance illustrator and printmaker for almost 25 years, was commissioned to create the artwork for the labels. In March 2017 she sketched and took photographs of the vineyard and its surrounding countryside.

Randfield explains: “I wanted to show the undulating landscape, the backdrop of the Welsh Black Mountains and the Malvern Hills as well as the flora and fauna that thrives with the vines.”

“I'm planning further images based on the trip and I'm looking forward to returning to the vineyard to see it during the year in the different seasons.”

As the year long project of rebranding and relabelling nears completion, Three Choirs winemaker Martin Fowke reflects: “It is great to be packaging our wine with a label that truly reflects the provenance of our produce. English Wine deserves its own identity and Three Choirs is proud to be the first major English Vineyard to fully embrace our English Heritage on the bottle.”

14 November 2017 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, news editor