• Zulu Alpha Kilo for Henry of Pelham creates an interactive wine label using layered paper elements to reveal the brand’s story.
• Muted tones and textured materials turn the bottle into a tactile, heritage-driven narrative experience.

Design is rediscovering the power of storytelling, transforming a wine label into a printed narrative. 

For Developed Through Time, Zulu Alpha Kilo builds on Henry of Pelham’s long history by treating the label like an evolving document, where stacked paper elements reveal fragments of text, imagery, and lineage. Soft, muted tones paired with textured paper stocks add a sense of grit, while the photographic inserts feel like glimpses into the estate’s past. 

The design invites interaction, encouraging the viewer to explore the layers and uncover the story, turning the bottle into an immersive experience. 

Challenge 

Located in the Niagara, Canada wine region, Henry of Pelham is one of Ontario’s best-selling producers. With a strong reputation amongst its peers, it was even declared Ontario’s #1 winery at the 2024 National Wine Awards.  

Despite these accolades, its quality has been unfairly dismissed. Snooty as it sounds, many wine lovers don’t perceive Ontario wines to be world-class. For them, “quality” has usually meant “imported:”: old Old world World bottles from Italy, France or Spain.  

Our goal was to improve the quality perception of Henry of Pelham, proving it has just as much care, craft and history as any world-class wine. And with a limited working budget, we needed to do it in a way that would get wine lovers talking. 

Insight 

When people choose a wine, they’re not just buying taste. They’re buying history, place and reputation. Old World wines have spent centuries turning heritage into a shorthand for quality: cues that matter just as much as what’s in the glass when it comes to consideration. 

And yet Henry of Pelham has exactly what wine lovers are looking for. Alongside its award-winning quality, it has a rich and fascinating history. Founded in 1794, the estate represents over 200 years of winemaking across six generations of one family. In fact, the property was deeded to the current owners’ great-great-great grandfather after serving in the American Revolution, was home to some of Canada’s first vineyards, and housed an inn and a tavern.  

So, knowing that history adds value to wine, when Henry of Pelham set out to elevate perceptions of quality, it didn’t just focus on what was in the bottle. It unlocked its greatest untapped asset: its own extraordinary history. 

Execution 

Henry of Pelham used its own wine to tell its story. Literally. 

The Wine Archive is a limited-edition set of 50 handcrafted bottles featuring photographic labels developed with Henry of Pelham’s own Pinot Grigio, Rosé, and Baco Noir wines. Each bottle features a unique artifact and story from Henry of Pelham’s 200-year past. From a hand-built oven and mysterious glass eye, to early packaging fails and long-lost keys, every bottle preserves a moment, a memory, or a misstep that helped shape the winery. 

Each unearthed artifact was photographed on film, then developed using Wineol, an experimental film processing technique that replaces traditional developing fluid with wine. By using Henry of Pelham’s own Pinot Grigio, Rosé, and Baco Noir, each image was literally infused with the hue of the wine used to develop it. 

The Wine Archive showcases the winery’s untold story, proving that if you’re overlooking Ontario wine, you’re missing out on a world-class experience. 

Individually, each bottle tells a story. Together, all 50 form a chronological timeline of Henry of Pelham’s 200-year history, tracing a winemaking dynasty from a humble family farm and tavern to one of Ontario’s most respected vineyards. 

Mirroring the project’s archival process, we created an archival design language. Each label catalogues a chapter of Henry of Pelham’s story, layering the artifact image, its backstory, and the specific wine used to develop it. 

The label was crafted with the same care and obsession as the wine itself. To reinforce the archival nature of the project, we layered four different paper substrates: cotton, vellum, recycled fibrefiber, and soft touch. We also used specialized techniques, including custom die-cut tabs, blind debossing, side sewn binding, thermography, and etched glass. Every bottle was then individually dipped in molten wax and hand-numbered, one by one.  

To launch it, we transformed Henry of Pelham’s underground barrel cellar into a working darkroom, where wine-loving influencers put on aprons and gloves and developed their own photos using Henry of Pelham wine. Part wine tasting, part time travel, the experience was a reminder that great wine, like great stories, can’t be rushed. 

The bottles were then offered to wine lovers through an exclusive online drop at henryofpelham.com, with proceeds going to Pathstone Mental Health, a nonprofit supporting child and youth mental health in the Niagara region.