Flying First Class With Peregrine

Over two years in the making, tradition and innovation have combined to produce the inaugural vintage of Peregrine’s first class wine ‘Pinnacle 2005 Pinot Noir’. But this is no ordinary wine or label.

Designed by Wellington’s Tardis Design, Pinnacle, in true Peregrine style is uniquely housed in a robust, yet elegant package. An embossed metal band saying only ‘Pinnacle’ replaces the more usual paper label. The bottle is capped with a metal staple etched with the vintage. Simple. The bottle is then encapsulated in a refined custom-made stainless steel cannister engraved only with Peregrine’s distinctive symbol.

“In my mind it fully captures the magic and spirit of Central Otago Pinot Noir. While the wine is truly outstanding, the packaging is out of this world”, says Raymond Chan of Wellington’s renowned retailer Regional Wines and Spirits. He insists “it’s the most visually stunning presentation I have seen for a wine”.

This of course is music to the designer’s ears. Not to mention Peregrine’s, as Pinnacle flies off the shelf at around $150 a bottle.

Helen Milner, co-director and design director of Tardis Design explains that there are not many projects where the brief is so clear, you are gifted with time and have a client so committed to creating something distinctly different.

“We knew Pinnacle was in the wings and in the hands of Peregrine’s winemaker Peter Bartle was destined to become an iconic wine. Its packaging had to match. Everything about Peregrine makes a statement - from their winemaking, to the architecture of their incredible winery (winner of countless awards), and the stark beauty of the environment itself. All of these elements influenced our design – it had to be strong, beautiful, functional and synonymous with Peregrine, Central Otago” says Milner.

Positioned as Peregrine’s ‘First Class’ wine, only a very limited amount of Pinnacle 2005 Pinot Noir has been produced, and for good reason. Established in 1998, Peregrine has been waiting patiently for the opportunity to produce a wine that would be of a quality worthy of the name ‘Pinnacle’. Finally all the vines came on stream and Peregrine deemed four out of 700 barrels as ‘exceptional’.

“It was as though those four barrels were screaming out ‘if you keep me with the rest I’ll make great wine but if you treat me on my own I’ll be something special’. Who can argue with that?” jokes Peregrine’s Greg Hay.

Milner insists the design concept for Pinnacle’s packaging came easily. “It just seemed the most natural thing to do”. However production was a challenge. “The hard part was finding people and suppliers with the skills and know-how to produce our design out of metal. We approached a colleague Adam Ellis (industrial designer adam@adamellis.co.nz) and Christchurch based company Artifex who both accepted the tricky task” Milner says.

“Simplicity is always the hardest thing to pull off. The cannister design Adam came back to us with was exactly what we had imagined, but even better. It fitted perfectly with the concept” she adds.

Pinnacle is sold predominantly at Peregrine’s cellar door or on premise. This meant the packaging design didn’t need to accommodate barcodes and some of the other usual labelling mandatories. “Best of all, Pinnacle is always going to be sold in its cannister so information about the wine didn’t have to be attached to the bottle” Milner explains. Instead Tardis decided to place the information, along with the story of Pinnacle, on an insert (shaped like a pinnacle and individually numbered). This acts as a wrap for the bottle inside the cannister.

“The whole package had to be innovative and memorable. It had to be like nothing anyone has seen before. In the same way people respond to the winery, we wanted people to see Pinnacle and say ‘that’s Peregrine’” Greg Hay explains. “And according to customers and the industry we’ve achieved that which is fantastic.”

Pinnacle can be found instore at selected retailers and restaurants, online at www.peregrinewines.co.nz and at Peregrine’s cellar door in Central Otago.

Although the team at Tardis is known to favour the odd drop of New Zealand Pinot, its clients are not all wine buffs. The company, founded by Helen Milner and Julie Muir in 2000 is committed to promoting prestigious brands and helping entrepreneurs make their mark on the world. This means branding, design and advertising projects from a wide range of industries continue to flow their way. To view a sample of Tardis’ work please visit www.tardis.co.nz

ENDS

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