It was in the Melbourne Olympic Games year of 1956 that Orlando Wines first released Barossa Pearl, the sweet sparkling wine that weaned a generation off sherry and port and introduced them to table wine.

The wine was revolutionary. Modelled on the light, sweet, ­effervescent “perlweins” popular in Germany, nothing like it had been tasted here before, and it was an astonishing success selling some 27 million bottles. 

The original label, designed by Wytt Morro (another legend), was hand drawn, right down to the 6pt type. 

We were delighted when Pernod Ricard decided to bring back Barossa Pearl as a limited edition release for Christmas 2014 under the Jacob’s Creek brand. It perfectly coincided with two trends: the popularity of sweeter, sparkling wines such as moscato, and consumers have a growing fondness for classic labels.

A day spent in the SA library archives revealed some fabulous ‘fodder’ for us to not only re-create the label, but produce a series of 3 posters which were illustrated by local specialists John Draper and Harry Slaghekke.

Every now and then a really fun project comes along and this was one of them. It took me back to the days of hand lettering and illustrating which is a skill I love to rekindle but rarely occurs in this computer age. 

I had a quiet snicker at the original advertising copy ... from the first exciting “pop of the top” to the last bubbly drop, you’ll love the gay, sparkling effervescence of this happy wine... it’s truly “top of the pops”. Such a shame that political correctness rules and we couldn’t use this!

Published:
WBM: Wine Business Magazine
March 2015

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