Middle Sister Gets a Makeover

Middle Sister wines has introduced a revolutionary new label and new look for its popular range of wines. Designed to disrupt, the package is based on a series of quirky «middle sister» characters who each claim their own varietal and personality. Middle Sister wines were launched on social media in 2008 and have a large following of passionate fans as well as national distribution at wine retailers across America.

«When I first came up with the idea of Middle Sister wines, everybody thought it was crazy to put a stick figure on a wine label. It ran counter to every wine marketing rule in the book,» explained Terry Wheatley, brand founder and Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Vintage Wine Estates. «But everybody has a middle sister or knows one—in fact the wine was inspired by my friend’s middle daughter. There’s just something about a middle sister that draws you to her. She has an authentic appeal that I knew would resonate.»

Wine lovers took to the idea immediately. They identified with the characters and their personalities, purchased wine for their own middle sisters, family and friends and started talking and sharing about the brand on social media.

In addition, the new package design was crowdsourced on social media. Middle Sister and Wine Sisterhood fans were asked to vote on several rounds of design and the final version selected for production was the fan favorite. Over 30,000 consumers participated in the voting process.

Vintage Wine Estates is a collection of vintner family-owned winery estates and brands based in Santa Rosa, California. An industry leader across all sales channels and dedicated to providing wine consumers with a range of wines from $10 to $100 dollars and at many price points in between, Vintage Wine Estates produces outstanding wines from Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and other premium California winegrowing regions.