PC packaging – but will you drink wine that
looks like this? 12 November 2007

Melvyn Minnaar sees pleasing design fly out Distell's window

After the oh-so symbolic, feel-good ban of the inglorious papsak - that sad, floppy cushion of el cheapo wine on which has rested just about all the blame and shame for the unmentionable social problems in our winelands - are we entering the era of politically-correct packaging on the wings of terrible design?

The fact that good old glass bottles, which for yonks had had to carry the can for our vinous pleasures, are increasingly becoming the bogeyman with the over-size carbon footprint in the eyes of the environmentally-aware – especially when travelling over stretches of ocean or through the sky – means that we’re also at a crucial point where wine containers are going through a revolution.

Maybe there is some poetic justice in the demise of the good-old, bad glass bottle. Most producers stick pieces of bark in them - which frequently managed to contaminate the cheerful contents. Those who sell that bark have been very clever in convincing the environmental softies that as stopper on a glass bottle it was a good thing for the earth – and the birds, bees and, well, whatever. (With glass bottles ultimately gone, even the screwcap battle will be a non-debate. And cork will take its rightful place as most useful for bathroom mats and notice boards.)

And with the glass bottle under threat, dare one hope that the end is in sight for irritating over-sized, ultra-heavy bottles presently so de rigueur for pretentious, bling-packaged and over-priced wines? (Doesn’t the idea of an Ernie Els, Vergelegen V or Waterford The Jem in a plastic container conjure up an ironic frisson of sorts?)

But before we get carried away, there is some new wine packaging on the market which deserves some attention as it raises the question of looks. Will you buy it?

A few months ago, the wine company with that peculiar name released its nicely-named, well-liked Versus in something which resembles a space-age papsak with three holes. It may be my imagination, but the wine inside somehow doesn’t taste what it used to - and so the poor thing has been lying in my fridge (they claim it can easily stand up, but...) like a slightly-deflated, well, papsak.     

Then came the next environmental politically-correct effort - from giant Distell, no less. Unveiled with a tad of hasty, over-nervous hype, we are introduced to the ‘new ultra-convenient, eco-friendly Prisma packs’, which claim to be a ‘revolutionary 100% recyclable and ultra-convenient’.

The breathless announcement of the ‘four wine ranges’ with its ‘ planet-friendly appeal’ didn’t carry any warning about the appearance of these one-litre blocks, but it was quite evident that Distell had no one at hand with even a dollop of design taste when it decided on the looks. The new Prisma packs of Drostdy-hof, Obikwa, Vinot, Chatta’ Box (can you believe the new names?!) must surely be four of the most ugly containers of wine ever seen. Somewhere, somehow the plot was lost.

That anyone would buy – never mind drink – any wine looking like this is beyond me. (I couldn’t.)

With two different supermarket wine fundies confirming that boxed wines are increasingly popular, the bad taste of the new Distell ones are hard to fathom.

Of course, big wineries like Namaqua (ex Westcorp) have had handy Tetrapaks with wine on the shelves for yonks. Handy and quite nice-looking, they serve the purpose, thanks.

COMMENTS

From Lisa Kropman:

Well, I definitely don\'t agree. I think that the new little boxes of wine are quirky, original and absolutely ideal for Kirstenbosch sunset concerts and dinner parties and would even make a fabulous and trendy Christmas pressie! They are definitely ideal for the young person's lifestyle and with summer coming up I'll make sure I've got a few boxes handy!

From Mia Thom:
I love the design. From a 27 year old wine drinking enthusiast's perspective, I am always looking for new inspired designs especially on picnics where you don't want to take cork screws and worry about bottles etc.

From Shelley Ellse of Distell:
Hi Melvyn, thank you for your write up on our new Prisma wine range. The strategic objective of this category was not to replace bottles wine but rather to add to convenient wine offerings currently in the local market. Ultimately making wine more accessible to a wider market. Many consumers who are not wine gurus nor have an extensive knowledge in the category, other than consuming it, find the category rather intimidating and daunting. As you know Distell has a strong footprint in the traditional wine front with the likes of Nederburg and Durbanville Hills to name a few. Just as the Estate wines occupy a space in the category so to is there a need for easy-drinking, recyclable wines. The new Prisma range will appeal to certain people in the market, namely younger,  amatuer wine drinkers who are eager to step into the category. Your comments about the design of the packs are noted yet packaging design is a very subjective matter. All the designs were tested through numerous consumer panels consisting of the target market they are aimed at where they all fared very well. Being a wine expert yourself, unfortunately this range of easy-drinking wines should not appeal to you as they are not aimed at your level of wine expertise.

Michael Summerton:
Hi Melvyn –  I was very disappointed to read your very close minded, subjective and (to be honest)-old -  views on the latest Prisma packs from Distell.  Considering myself an active young wine drinking South African, the new packs were right up my alley being indeed trendy, environmentally conscious and durable.  I further wonder why, having lambasted poor Distell over their design taste (surely this is your personal preference? What happened to independent objective reporting or is this too much to ask these days?), you admit that boxed wine is indeed on the up - so i don't see how they have missed the mark here??  I look forward to a more carefully thought out and better researched follow up to your article. Yours in wine….

From Suretha van der Spuy:
The 10year old daughter of a good friend of mine thinks the one on the far left is very cute...  'nough said.

From Matt Spicer:
Wow! Thats ugly. We really have no idea do we??? we should learn from the Italians where "out of the box" (no pun intended) thinking is concerned. A big brand of theirs has just hit our shores and that certainly does the job - check out THIS for packaging!!! 

From Brendon Shaw:
Hi there, I think the views in this article are very narrow minded indeed. While you may hate the designs - your article lacks a comprehensive or respresentative viewpoint of the packaging in terms of what it is trying to achieve - and for whom. You have not viewed the new packaging option in context to who the target market is - young (and old) people who don’t take wine too seriously and just want a convenient everyday option in a durable and easy to pack container.

Consider for a second how convenient the so said packaging is - for trips to the beach, long 4x4 trips into the bush, adhoc picnics, for a weekly tipple in the fridge. Secondly consider that wine consumption per capita in South Africa is decreasing - we need to do as much as possbile to reinvent the image of wine as an everyday drink here.  Distell, through these designs, are doing just that and they should be commended for being bold enough to to do so.

Sadly many people still need to have the old cobwebs dusted from around their eyes to see this and the greater picture of wine's future.

From Joy Krige:
I find it both interesting and disconcerting that you neither focus on the quality of the wine nor the fact that the packaging’s key points are around convenience and eco-friendliness. This form of criticism is akin to commenting on a Kombi's lack of performance as a sports car. Some things are task built and as far as I am concerned this was achieved very well with the new design. I am not sure whether you lead an active outdoor lifestyle but using glass bottles is in fact rather a problem when hiking/camping/picnicking. Fresh design of an otherwise Liqui fruit style dominated category is… well… refreshing….. I trust that wine reviews will remain wine focused and designers will from now on write design reviews.

From the editor: We will get hold of the wine and taste it and report back soon. But can I just remind a few people that poor old Melvyn (the screwcap’s biggest fan in South Africa) was not attacking the idea of wine from packaging other than bottles (see his last paragraph); he was expressing his view that this particular bit of packaging was unattractive.

From Emile Joubert:
I got home last night to find my samples of these products in a black box. (As a freeloading wine writer, this kind of thing happens often.) They are absolutely disgusting and the crowd that banned the papsak should immediately incinerate any wine container that looks like this. Cheap, but not cheerful. Garish, hideous and common - I'm surprised the sample was not complemented by a pair of green Crocs. This look and feel turns wine into a cheap, tarty Pep Stores commodity undermining the industry's efforts to portray South African wine as an intrinsic-bearing product of quality.

 From Gert:
Talking about narrow minded? The number of wine bottles are surely much less than the number of beer and Coca-Cola bottles produced each year. Why should wine drinkers, living in their own small fantasy world make such a big fuss? It is all marketing my friends. Think about it…Coca-Cola only use their patented glass bottle in advertisements. You won’t see a can in a beer advert either. Why are Windhoek and Hansa Marzen Gold (both German style beers) packaged in green bottles opposed to traditional brown German beer bottles? The reason is simple. Glass is seen by the mass market as superior packaging – and in South Africa green bottles are seen as premium products.

Swartland tried a tetra pack some years ago…and it failed miserably. Distell, with their monopoly position in the market and economies of scale, will steal market share. But this is not going to be a packaging revolution. What will it do for the mass consumption of wine in this country?... Zero… It reminds too much of the old 'sorghum beer' packaging.

From winemaker Jean-Vincent Ridon:
Dear Melvyn, I can only support you. Being French, for me, wine is a lifestyle, not an alternative booze to enjoy on a 4x4 treck. It is as well, as a Christian, the base of my civilisation, so I must show more respect to the fruit of the vines. Tetrapack certainly has its technical advantages, but I must admit that I will always look at it as a beverage container, not a receptacle for decent wine.

From Stewart Prentice:
As someone not averse to spending a fair portion of my recyclable debt on both collectible (put away until the temptation is too much - best effort to-date 8 years) and instant-gratification (usually the cheaper option but not always) I reckon the new soft "not papsak" packs are great. The Versus is certainly good for a glass or three, and when I recall the odour in my 12v coolbox after a bottle of quaffable (pricey) white broke on a recent trip to Mozambique I am certainly coming round to the idea of 'containers for occasions'. Perhaps the cork vs screwtop protagonists should do likewise? After all, barring scientific testing, why can't even good wine age as well in a 1 litre bag?
[Now there's a thought - I wonder if they'ree testing that. Ageing good wines in plastic bags for ten years. Why not, indeed? – Ed]