SPOTLIGHT: Wine & Spirits

Cappiola Hopes to Create a Wine Packaging Renaissance

Tetra Pak Prisma packages offer a number of strong branding opportunities for the young Cappiola wine importing company.

Vincenzo Guglietta and partner Robert Galasso founded Cappiola Wines for the distinct purpose of bringing high-quality, inexpensive Italian wines to the U.S. market. Their experience with the European wine market gave them the confidence to launch a new wine brand in unique packaging. But the initial modest plan to start distribution mainly to kitchens and cooks expanded quickly when both the product and packaging exceeded expectations.

The idea was to use fine grapes to craft distinctive-yet-affordable red and white blends (Rosso and Bianco) that would be a quality experience, and the right packaging would be the final piece of the puzzle. "We wanted to come up with a real value message," says Guglietta.

The one that fits

Guglietta and Galasso chose Tetra Pak's Prisma aseptic container for several reasons, including cost, convenience, shelf impact, and friendliness to the environment. They wanted to have significant packaging cost savings that they could pass along to consumers, and these savings would come mainly from shipping efficiencies.

A truckload of empty Tetra Pak Prisma cartons holds the wine packaging equivalent to about 25 truckloads of wine bottles, and the carton weight is only 4% of the total product compared to 30% for traditional wine bottles. The shipping efficiencies benefit both front-end costs and back-end recycling, as the Prisma container is made from renewable resources and is 100% recyclable. This allows the one-liter Cappiola containers (33% more wine than a 750-ml bottle) to retail for as little as $7.99.

Guglietta and Galasso also chose the Prisma container because it afforded them the opportunity to communicate the authentic Italian quality of the product in a bold new way graphically. Joe Katz was the designer that was responsible for the final look of the carton. The image that appears on Cappiola cartons is from a painting of Federico of Montefeltro, better known as the Duke of Urbino, by the artist Piero Della Francesca.

The painting of the Duke is well-known to art students as a fine example of 15th-century Renaissance painting. Guglietta believes the image symbolizes a traditional and sophisticated spirit by incorporating the old world expression of wine as art with a revolutionary new package, and he has since been surprised at how many consumers recognize the painting. Katz feels the image conveys authenticity, and the Duke's prominent nose, and how it folds around one of the beveled corners of the package, is a definitive branding touch.

The owners of the Cappiola wine brand felt that the Duke's visage was so strong for the brand that they changed red to yellow for the white wine carton instead of using the Duchess.

The rest of the story

One idea was to have the Duke's wife, Battista Sforza, grace the front of the white wine carton (see picture). Katz and Guglietta decided, however, that the Duke's visage was too strong to deny, and it would be best not to dilute that impact or confuse the consumer. To make the white wine carton image, Katz transformed the originally red cap and robe of the Duke to a white-wine yellow in Photoshop.

The appetizing word Cappiola has no real meaning in Italian, but is a derivative that honors Guglietta's father, a native born Italian. The name Cappiola is derived from a term used in a local Italian dialect to indicate an artisan. The name is printed in transparent white vertically up the right beveled corner. Another beveled corner on the back explains "A Unique Wine in a Unique Package" in three paragraphs. At the bottom of that corner is another wine glass diagram with the claim: "Yes—The Wine is Good!"

Guglietta took time to research how Tetra Pak wine cartons are being accepted around the world and in the U.S. He was encouraged by studies and articles in major wine magazines. The wave in the U.S. seems to be starting on the West Coast, as lovers of the outdoors are toting Tetra Pak wine containers out on the trail and to their campsites. The aseptic container protects the freshness of the product as well as a glass bottle, and is durable enough to put into a backpack or an ice cooler.

When Guglietta and Galasso started showing the package and product around and letting wine-lovers test the wine, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Women especially appreciated the value price, the ease of storing, and the benefit of keeping unused wine fresh.