How to Start a Private Label Wine Business From Square One

Every considered starting your own private label wine business? Starting this type of business from scratch is easier than you might think. In this article we outline the steps involved and things to consider when choosing a manufacturer to partner with.

What is a private label wine business?

A private label wine business is typically is not in the manufacturing industry and does not produce wines themselves.

Private label wine businesses are largely focussed on branding and marketing. They typically don't have in-depth experience and solid understanding of manufacturing practices and processes required. They seek to partner with a company where they can leverage the wine production and manufacturing experience from.

A private label wine business may offer various wine varietals, under a single brand banner, or multiple. There is no limit to the amount of private label wine brands an individual or company can own and operate.

What does private label mean?

Private label is a brand owned by a company, whilst the product itself is not unique to the brand owner. Business who produce private label wines may package the same exact product, under various labels and packaging formats for various other companies. This means, the unique aspect of the product is in its visual appearance of packaging as opposed to the actual product inside.

What are the steps involved in a private label wine business?

The first step is to determine what wine products are going to be produced.

There is a variety of wine varietals from Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Prosecco – essentially any wine varietal can be made into a private label wine product.

Once this is determined, the next steps involved is the branding. This includes the wine label, closure and carton artwork design. These elements are what enables the product to stand out on the shelf to consumers and is therefore very important to the product success.

The next step in starting a private label wine business is to find a suitable manufacturer. Each private label wine manufacturer may operate slightly differently. Some companies will allow you to slightly change the recipe of the wines to suit your consumers needs – such as adding more sugar, or increasing alcohol content, whilst some may not deviate from standard products.

What should you consider when selecting a private label wine manufacturer?

There are a number of key aspects to consider. One of these is the product itself – the product should be of good quality, and something consumers will enjoy, after all the product is representing the brand/label on the bottle!

Another point to consider is minimum order quantities. Some private label wine manufacturers have large minimum order quantities due to the size of their packaging lines. Some have smaller minimum order quantities which can be more accessible for start up businesses.

Ensuring the private label manufacturer has up to standard quality assurance practices is also important as a recall on a product will be incredibly harmful to a brand. One should also consider the services required including ordering of cartons, labels, bottles and caps, or whether this would be expected to be supplied by the client.

Starting a private label wine business from square one is no a small undertaking but can be a strategic marketing option and it is more accessible than starting a full scale winery.

Do you have a great brand idea for a wine product? Starting a private label wine business may be the perfect opportunity for you.

IDL provides private label services for wine, cider and ready to drink products. Contact us today to learn more.

See also Canning & Bottling Wine, how do they differ?, Manufacturing Wine: How to Simplify