"Our aim is to provide an approachable voice to speak to the growing younger, enthusiastic market of wine lovers and readers, while still giving focus to the detailed and more technical knowledge required by our loyal subscriber base," explained Cathryn Henderson, Wine's publisher. "We are celebrating the best of the existing content and adding new content ideas and a refreshed upbeat tone and approach."
The changes come in response to consumer feedback in an independent survey conducted by Bateleur-Khanya Research Solutions, which revealed that readers want more wine-and-food pairings, restaurant reviews and recipes, as well as a lighter, more engaging tone.
From cover to cover
The Wine masthead heralds the changes, the austere capital letters and font making way for a more informal, friendly typeface. The strapline, 'A way of life', reflects a more encompassing approach, while the covers will have a range of relevant themes to convey the diversity of the content.
Inside, the font and design also change, with fact boxes allowing readers to home in on areas of particular interest to them. The content section names have been refreshed, too. For example, wine features are now 'In the Glass', food features have become 'On the Plate' and people and opinion is 'Around the Table.' A new regular 'Foodie finds' page highlights local market produce like olive oils, vinegars and cheeses sourced in and around the winelands.
For advertisers, some flexibility has been added in the form of 'Off the shelf', a repackaged section covering information on wine-related accessories and gizmos and book and wine label reviews. Here, a tasting notes page gives winemakers a chance to guarantee exposure of their new releases.
