DAf – Veuve du Vernay by Patriarche

When French wine house Patriarche released a limited international edition of their sparkling wine brand Veuve du Vernay, they required a sleek, premium look that would complement their existing product line, while also establishing a distinct look for this new edition. With a particular focus on the US market, the idea was to create a voguish, compelling design that elevated the brand—while leaving overdone French stereotypes at the door.

Veuve du Vernay is directly connected to France’s illustrious sparkling wine history. In 1907 professor and engineer Jean Eugène Charmat patented the Cuvée Close (or Charmat Method), which is still used in sparkling winemaking today. As the story goes, along the way Mr. Charmat became connected to a mysterious widow from the Rhone town of Vernay. To forever immortalize her memory, his son Robert Charmat named this wine after the woman who had caught his father’s eye.

We used the story of this mysterious French woman, and the vigor of the golden letter “V” (a nod to the brand name and to “la vie” or life), to design an elegant black sleeve for Veuve du Vernay. The result is sophisticated, clearly French—and easily appeals to a wider international market.