THE SQUERRYES ESTATE
Squerryes is a productive 2,500 acre estate on the Kent Downs in England. As well as a beautiful stately family home the estate also boasts several vineyards with a terroir to rival that of the Champagne region in France.
We initially began rebranding the estate in 2011 with the introduction of a new logo and guidelines, later rolling out the brand across the estates wines, restaurant and wine bar.
Squerryes sparkling wine has since won numerous gold and platinum Decanter awards and can now be seen standing proudly on the shelves at Waitrose.
BRANDING A LEGACY
We were invited by the current residents of Squerryes (the 8th generation of Wardes to have lived here) to help re-brand the estate prior to the release of it's first ever vintage of sparkling wine.
The brief was to create a brand sympathetic to the estates heritage whilst also allowing the estate to grow in a contemporary and progressive way. More specifically we were asked if the logo could incorporate an element of red that can be found amongst one of the tapestries on the dining room wall.
We created a logo comprised of two elements: a monogram roundle reminiscent of a wax seal stamp with the families moto 'Licet esse beatis' (it's permitted to be joyful) designed elegantly around a simple illustration of the house, and also a bespoke typeface for 'Squerryes'. The concept was that the roundle and typeface could work independently of each other which would maximise their use across branding collateral.
Brand guidelines were then created detailing the use of secondary typefaces and colour schemes that would allow the estate to evolve into an elegant brand that embraces traditional and contemporary design.
INTO THE WORLD OF PACKAGING DESIGN
Having successfully designed the brand we were then asked to imagine the livery for the estates range of sparkling wine bottles. This was an entirely new discipline for us but after a long spell spent knee deep in foil and label samples and an enormous amount of design research we felt we had delivered a bottle livery sympathetic to the heritage and elegance of the estate. The design also allowed for colourisation to match products from the different grape types.
Our initial logo concept where the typeface and roundle could be used separately can be seen here to full effect.
COMMUNICATIONS
After the first vintage of wine was produced the marketing and communications were rolled out.
We created brochures, websites and a marketing campaign which targeted luxury lifestyle magazines with our strapline 'Move over champagne, it's our turn to sparkle.'
The estate also began hosting open air theatre events for which we created the posters.
THE WINERY
Having had great success with the wine the estate embarked on building a winery complete with restaurant, shop and oyster bar, all situated right next to the vineyards.
We created a new logo for the winery and worked with the interior designers to make sure the brand flowed throughout - even down to the menus.
