The task was to rebrand the Zlata Radgonska Penina sparkling wine and to facilitate the winery’s efforts to make its way to the global market outside Slovenia, which it had not managed to achieve before despite its 169-year-old tradition.

We intervened in the production process left dormant for hundreds of years to create a new, globally unique production method and to capture the attention of the media, distributors and buyers.

According to Professor Ann C. Noble from the University of California, even minimal exposure of sparkling wine to light can change its aroma for the worse. We decided to go to the extreme and never to allow light to touch the wine, from harvest to tasting. With that in mind, we changed the wine’s name to UNTOUCHED BY LIGHT and sealed it inside rectangular black foil that made the bottle barely visible, embodying the production process in complete darkness.

Now the night vision goggles are used for night harvest, bottle rotation and packing. The wine is left to age for three years in a completely lightproof Gornja Radgona natural cave in Slovenia.

Packaging design underscores the unique quality of the product. For that reason, we steered clear from category conventions, typical graphical language and decorations. With simple, informative design and distinctive graphics, we aimed at suggesting this is something else. The bottle is made of 99.8% black glass and sealed inside black foil that provides a dark and safe space for the product and increases its on-shelf visibility. The ripple foil with its baroque structure also functions as a distinctive and exuberant decoration.

The product launch was planned in a darkroom in the basement of The Savoy Hotel with a blind sommelier, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was streamed online from a dark natural cave.

• Our innovation was widely reported in the media all the way from the US to China. There were 232 media mentions including in The Washington Post, The Independent, Decanter, Der Spiegel, Forbes and Wine China.

An exciting experiment. – Juliane Fischer, Kurier

Quite a story. – Caroline Gilby MW, Decanter

The most unusual wine I tasted this year. The wine was amazing. – Dave McIntyre, Washington Post

Unusual, innovative wine. – Igor Serdyuk, Forbes

It is the ageing process that makes this wine unique. – Wine China

• Due to the interest sparked among international distributors this sparkling wine is now sold in places like Casamona in St. Moritz and high-end stores in China.

• THE VALUE OF THE BOTTLE INCREASED SIX-FOLD.