Manifest Labels LLC has launched business-to-business sales by partnering with Spokane Valley-based Latah Creek Wine Cellars to incorporate its patented technology, the Chill-O-Meter, on Latah Creek’s wine labels, says Manifest CEO, Alison Eldred.
The Chill-O-Meter is a temperature-activated technology that indicates when a bottle of wine is at its optimal temperature to imbibe. Eldred says some people have nicknamed it the Goldilocks effect because of its ability to reveal whether it’s too hot, too cold, or just right. If a wine is served too warm, it will be hot and acidic; served too cold, the wine tastes flat and lifeless, Eldred says. The technology is also reversible, meaning the revealing process can move back and forth between hot and cold.
Most people drink their wine 10 to 15 degrees too warm, Eldred explains. Some of that misunderstanding can be attributed to French chateaus in which the room temperature is about 60 degrees. However the average room temperature in most homes today is about 72 degrees, making room temperature wine too warm to consume properly, Eldred says. By partnering with winemakers, Manifest can reach and educate more people on temperature's role in wine drinking.
“We feel that winemakers are the most passionate about tasting their wine as intended,” Eldred says. “We’re really focusing on getting the Chill-O-Meter on the winemaker's label … and then the winemaker essentially helps us educate the consumer.”
Manifest chief marketing officer Dayne Kuhlmann says that wine temperature is an essential factor that sommeliers consider when serving wine to clients. Still, its importance is often not communicated to consumers.
“If you go to a vineyard, the winemaker is going to prioritize serving at the right temperature because that’s where you get the flavor profiles,” Kuhlmann says. “…and then you bring the wine home and wonder, 'why isn’t it the same at home?' It’s usually because of temperature.”
Natalie Conway-Barnes, winemaker at Latah Creek, says the Chill-O-Meter technology has been incorporated into the Latah Creek's labels for wine bottles being produced this year. So far, Latah Creek has released two reds, a Sangiovese, and a Tempranillo in March, and a white Chenin Blanc, all with the Chill-O-Meter technology embedded into the labels. Latah Creek will release more wines in the coming weeks, including a Pinot Grigio and an Orange Moscato.
“Most people know to chill white wines, but red wines, not many people know that,” Barnes says. “For those people who are just getting into reds to know that it actually hits your palette a little easier, it’s a little softer at those (lower) temperatures, I think is really great.”
Kuhlmann says the company was conscious of thinking of ways that the Chill-O-Meter technology would not obstruct a winemaker’s brand and design. To address that issue, Manifest has licensed its technology so that winemakers can choose how and where they would like to incorporate the temperature seal on their wines. On Latah Creek wine bottles, Barnes prioritized promoting the company and including the wines’ taste notes then played with the size and location of the Chill-O-Meter technology.
“I actually had to make my label on the back a little bit wider to accommodate it. I wanted to make sure it was on there and is set apart with no circle around it but just nice white space around it,” Barnes says. “But still, I wanted the focus to be on Latah Creek.”
As first reported by the Journal of Business, Eldred co-founded Manifest last year with Timo Lunceford, the company’s vice president. With the inclusion of Kuhlmann, the company has three employees and works with several contractors, Eldred says. Manifest utilizes office space from SP3NW at 120 N. Pine and recently attained an executive coach, also from SP3NW, who will help the startup build its sales workforce. In the next three to six months, Eldred hopes to begin searching for investors.
Since launching Manifest, Eldred says the startup has successfully trademarked Chill-O-Meter and received a patent for its temperature-activated technology.
Kuhlmann says the goal from the start has been to partner with winemakers. However, when the company launched last year, it had to wait for the harvesting and bottling cycles in the industry to start anew. While they waited for the new season to begin, the company focused on distributing its technology to consumers. In March, Manifest inked its first retail Spokane partnership with Rosauers Supermarkets Inc. and Huckleberry's Natural Market. The Chill-O-Meter retail packets which include 12 metallic seals for red wines and 12 metallic seals for white wines are now available at all Rosauers and Huckleberries locations in Spokane. Hard Hat Winery LLC in Poulsbo, Washington also began selling the retail packets in September.
As wineries now are beginning to bottle their wines, Manifest has turned back its focus to its licensing model and is working alongside designers and printers to incorporate the Chill-O-Meter technology on wine labels.
Manifest works with Mojo Print, and Ross Printing Northwest Inc., both of Spokane, for its retail packets. The seals are manufactured by contractors in Napa, California, Eldred says. The price to print the Chill-O-Meter technology onto the labels is between 7 and 8 cents per bottle. Eldred says the company is working on lowering the cost.
"It's all a numbers game...we're working on lowering it down to 5 to 6 cents per label," Eldred says.
The company's name was inspired by the water-to-wine miracle depicted in the Bible and is widely considered one of Jesus' first manifested miracles to his disciples, Eldred says.
Lunceford points out that the Manifest logo, which shows a water droplet falling into the middle crease of the letter M and transforming from blue to red is also a nod to the water-to-wine miracle. The three points in the M are also a representation of the holy Trinity, Lunceford says.
Eldred says it is usually the case that people will serve their best wine first, and save the lesser quality wine for last. In the water-to-wine story, there is a moment in which someone remarks how the best wine had been saved for last. Eldred says she was inspired by the notion of younger generations like Gen Z and Millenials who are less acquainted with wine drinking having the ability to serve wine at its prime.
"It's just like the master of ceremonies in the story, what an honorary gesture this is for your guests," Eldred says. "We're very inspired by that too, and we want this to be an honorary gesture for our target customers to be able to serve their best wine to their guests."