Designs of the Week: Redesigning the Wine Experience

By guest authors Charles W. Bush and Kathy Hwang of 3Strand Innovation, a brand, design and business consultancy.

The experience of drinking wine holds all the allure of history, science and nature poured into one glass. While we will always appreciate classic and traditional approaches to wine drinking, we’ve found people redesigning the modern-day wine experience with some of the most inventive and fun ideas this industry has seen.

Wine by the Tube
Let’s face it. Most of us still don’t fully understand wine. So why should we have to buy a whole bottle of wine to figure out whether we like it or not? A Parisian company, WineSide, is addressing this issue with a unique approach of offering wines in sample-sized tubes that you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home. Packaged more like beauty products than traditional wine products, these “test-tube” wines come from a range of appellations and producers and are available in both individual tubes and box sets for tasters.

Blend Your Own Wine
Fusebox is offering wine enthusiasts the experience of creating their own wines. Tapping into the science behind wine, the artistic creativity of their customers, and the social nature of drinking wine, Fusebox has created a party box that lets you make up to eight separate blends of wine. Each kit includes six bottles of blending wine from Napa vineyards, a graduated cylinder, pipettes, wine evaluation cards, tasting place mats, recipe cards, a vinography aroma card and a corkscrew.

Wine Knot
Displaying your favorite bottles of wine has become as much a part of the wine experience as drinking it. This gorgeous new take on the traditional wine rack was designed by Alberto Mantilla, Scott Henderson and Anthony Baxter. The Wine Knot’s modern organic floral design, created with two intersected molded plywood components, practically begs for guests to come and take a closer look.

Remember Your Favorites
“What was the name of that wine we liked?” It’s a simple but familiar problem – one that most people wouldn’t even think to vocalize if they were asked in a focus group. But Oxford Landing makes sure that you won’t have that problem with their South Australian Shiraz wine. The back label includes a clever tear-off tab to remember the pertinent wine information for your next dinner party.

Merus Winery
Lastly, what is the wine experience without the environment in which you enjoy it? Merus is a “designer” winery set to open in early 2009 in Napa Valley. The look was created by Amsterdam-based Uxus Design, the architecture and design firm behind the winery. In stark contrast to most wineries, which have a traditional aged and earthy look, this winery looks and feels more like a 5-star hotel, especially with the killer fireplace in the tasting room.

This segment is a part in the series : Designs of the Week