News and Events

21 August 2009

Launch of Braille & Large Print on Wine Back Labels

Fox Creek Wines celebrated an Australian first last night at Salt Bar and Restaurant, Marina Pier, Glenelg when we launched our new Braille wine bottle labels.

The first three wines with braille and large print on their back labels are the 2009 Shadow’s run Sauvignon Blanc, 2008 Red Baron Shiraz and Vixen. As the other 11 wines in our portfolio require bottling they will receive the same treatment. We hope to have increased our audience and helped open other's eyes to the possibility.

Around half a million Australians are vision impaired including 50,000 who are blind and 4,000 of whom have a form of deaf blindness. The total of Australians who are blind or vision impaired is estimated to increase to nearly 800,000 (by 60%) by 2024 (in fifteen years). [*ref. 1]

Overall the night went extremely well with around 100 guests enjoying our new found vision and entertainment by the award winning Tutti Ensemble’s Blind Date. This was an original eye-opening cabaret performance by four young VIP’s (vision-impaired performers) looking for love in the dark! The hit of the evening was Blind Date’s rendition of a Fox Creek theme song, specially written by Pat Rix, Tutti Artistic Director, and the members of Blind Date. We hope to have this available for download on our website soon but in the meantime please download a PDF version of the song.

The group, which includes singer-songwriter Michele Thredgold and emerging Tutti performers Annika Hooper, Emma Taylor and Jason Crowhurst, accompanied by Cliff Stoddart on guitar thrilled the audience with its stunning harmonies, humour and sheer hutzpah!

Our Marketing Manager, Kristin McLarty, had the inspiration for the Braille labels when her dear friend with 20:20 vision underwent a minor operative procedure. Unfortunately a blood clot formed during the operation and damaged the part of his brain that affects vision. When he described what it was like trying to choose one laundry detergent from another in the supermarket Kristin became acutely aware that businesses should strive to help bring greater independence to the lives of the visually impaired.

With this in mind Fox Creek set about investigating how to put braille on our wine labels. Our label printers, Studio Labels rose to the challenge and worked closely with Andrew Daly from the Royal Society for the Blind to ensure everything was correct. Studio Labels helped make this a reality by covering the cost of all the new printing plates and, of course, by spending the time necessary to develop their braille label ‘technology’.



[*ref. 1] Clear Insight, The Economic Impact and Cost of Vision Loss in Australia, an Overview, Access Economics for Eye Research Australia, 2004