UV-rotary screen varnishes make wine labels ‘rise and shine’

In the quest to find fresh, exciting ways of label decoration, designers are increasingly using UV varnish textures to catch the consumer’s attention.

Varnishes are added to a label design to create raised images, smooth shining solid areas, or fine line patterns that appeal to both the tactile and visual senses.  This kind of decorative effect is normally created by rotary screen – a process capable of laying down very thick deposits in a single pass, at speed, at the end of a printing line, after the images are printed by other print processes.

Wim Zoomer, account manager at Stork Prints, the Dutch supplier of rotary screen printing systems, says: ‘Varnishes have become a very popular finish on wine labels, especially. Our customers here are becoming adept at using the effect to emphasize a unique feature, like a brand name, a logo or icons relevant to a vineyard’s specific location.’

The Resalte Ribera del Duero Crianza 2000 label by one such customer, Spanish converter Bacigalupe Hermanos (of Pradoluengo, county Burgos), shows how very thick varnish coverings can literally lift the underlying image, giving the brand name in question noticeably three-dimensional qualities and richness of color. A Codimag Viva 340 semi-rotary press – featuring a semi-rotary Stork RSI (Rotary Screen Integration) Unit – was used in this case: the black graphics are waterless offset; the varnish coated layer over it is 100 m thick. The covering is especially appropriate, because Resalte is a derivative of the verb resaltar – ‘to stand out’ in Spanish.

However, just a 10 – 15 m varnish coating creates more subtle eye-catching features, especially when used upon a matte solid area of a label. A major South African wine label printer, Cape-Town-based Rotolabel, recently chose this type of varnish finish over letterpress graphics, to inspire curiosity about the origins of two ‘adventure brands’ from that region.

The solid varnish coverage with rotary screen on right-hand side of the Le Pommier Cabernet Sauvignon label resembles an apple tree – a reference to the orchards that grow near the vineyard. Its distinctly smoother surface appears darker than its surroundings under the light. The second example, a linework pattern on the Kumala 2002 Winemaker's Selection label, is a lizard made out of numerous fine, tactile squares which, like the furtive reptile it portrays, emerge close-up. The varnishes on both labels were printed with a Stork unit on a Nilpeter B3000 press.