Paul Tincknell
Coordinator / Judge, Packaging Design Contest
Ammons Horn 2018 Pinot Noir Reserve Carneros, California
Sweepstakes Winner, Packaging Design Contest
March 3, 2021, Cloverdale, CA – Ammons Horn 2018 Pinot Noir Reserve Carneros from California was the Sweepstakes Winner in the Packaging Design Contest at the 2021 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, receiving a Gold and Best of Class in the Artistic Illustrative category. The judges selected it for the simplicity and beauty of the label, the execution of the printing, and the strong graphical connection between the brand, growing region, and a founder’s profession.
The label has a textured matte black background that accentuates the embossed graphic of an ammonite, a fossilized cephalopod, rendered in brushed metallic gold foil and subtle pastel colors. The winery name is embossed in the same brushed metallic gold foil and uses a customized serifed font like Garamond. The rest of the front label text simply and elegantly identifies the wine in a minimal fashion, with the “Reserve” status called out in a script.
Ammons Horn (www.ammonshornwines.com) was established with the planting of the vineyard in 2002. It was founded by Roger Wolff, an architect by trade, and Linda McGlochlin Wolff, a California licensed geologist and certified hydrogeologist. The name of the winery and the prominent ammonite as the brand’s logo comes from Linda’s love of the fossil and its strong resemblance to a ram’s horn, subtly tying the brand to the Los Carneros region (Spanish for “the ram”) where the vineyard is located. Linda noted, “The most beautiful and rare ammonite fossils are those that become gold in color when they are pyritized.” Furthermore, the name “Ammon’s Horn” evokes the iconic spiral ram’s horn that is depicted on the ancient Egyptian and Greek god, Ammon or Amun. Today, it is a medical term for the hippocampus, the center of the human brain that controls memory and creativity. The winery donates a portion of sales to Alzheimer and Dementia charities, afflictions that impair both brain functions.
The label was designed by Julia Allen, the founder and creative director of Folia Design (www.foliadesign.com) in Napa, California, launched in 2002. She has created some of the most widely recognized and awarded design work in the North Bay, much of it in Napa and Sonoma, specializing in brand strategy, print, packaging and digital design. The label was printed by Paragon Label Company of Petaluma, California.
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