In the wine labeling industry, it’s always exciting to come across amazing label designs. Usually when a label already looks great on our computer screens, it is sure to look even better on a finished bottle. Never has that been more true than with The Tentacle, a stunning new wine label from Eight Arms Cellars.

Describing this label is like telling a story. The front of the bottle features the words “The Tentacle” written in a font that would be right at home if used in the title of an adventure film. Fitting for the name, the letters curl dramatically, mimicking the best part of the label: the tentacles that reach around to the front of the bottle and create a sense that there’s more to this wine label than meets the eye. Indeed, when the bottle is turned, the arms continue all the way around to the back label where an octopus seems to hover silently in the darkness above the descriptive back label text. The storybook quality of the design causes people to gravitate toward this bottle, and Iain Boltin of Eight Arms Cellars reports that The Tentacle sold out in roughly 6 weeks. Legitimizing the label’s success, the Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) recently named The Tentacle its 2010 Clear Choice Award winner in the wine category.

The label for The Tentacle was created by designer John Schall and printed by Monvera Glass Decor. Designed to be paperless, the artwork is screen printed directly on the surface of the glass and then cured in a Lehr oven.

The label is also a full wrap, which means the artwork travels all the way around the full circumference of the bottle, creating the illusion that the octopus is literally holding onto the glass. The detail in the art is really impressive. A printing technique called “halftones” is used to create a sense of shadow and dimension in the art, despite the fact that this wine label is designed with just one color. The effect is that of a black & white illustration from an old book, which really gives the label a vintage flair. Best of all, because the wine label is paperless, the octopus really does appear to emerge from the glassy darkness of the bottle.

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