Whilst celebrating two hugely successful decades of De Toren Private Cellar and our award-winning Bordeaux-styled wines, the lingering question in the back of our minds have always been ‘where to from here’? How do you refine what is already working so well, has been meticulously crafted and perfected over many years? What is required to take your product, your offering, your service to the next level for all stakeholders involved, including your internal team, valued partners and treasured clients?
The quest for perfection at De Toren is by no means something new. Since day one it has formed part of what we stand for – it has never been simply a catchy phrase or nice marketing speak or a client-facing mindset. This thinking is instilled in every single team member, it’s interwoven in everything we do, discuss or take on. It’s just how we think and do things here at De Toren and it has always been part of the journey. A journey that has forever been marked by an utter dedication to excellence and constant evolution in our pursuit of the exceptional, whether that is our service offering or our handcrafted wines that epitomise the heights of luxury, quality and taste.
Thus, it is with great excitement that we not only reveal our newly evolved De Toren logo, but also take a closer look at the evolution of our logo over the years…
De Toren was officially founded in 1999. As with most start-up brands, an identity was carefully devised to try and capture the essence of what this new wine estate was planning to live up to at the time. With the brave spirit and pioneering vision of the founder, developing an estate planted entirely with (only) all five classic Bordeaux varietals, it stands to reason that a logo with a lion holding a fleur-de-lis (as a tribute to Bordeaux), was a very befitting icon for the brand.
Amazingly, this early logo design has gone on to serve the De Toren brand very successfully for over two decades. In that time, the wines themselves have gone from strength to strength. Being recognised, not only as South Africa’s leading Bordeaux-style wines, but garnering an endless string of international awards and accolades of the highest order. A meteoric rise has seen international wine critics rating De Toren wines amongst some of the finest in the world.
With our new Swiss shareholders purchasing the estate in 2018, their vision was to further evolve and revamp the estate to enhance the experience on the estate itself.
We inherited an award-winning brand with a stellar Bordeaux-styled portfolio that has captivated palates around the globe. Upholding the high standards that our predecessors have set is a task we took to heart. We have and always will be committed to continuing the legacy of De Toren, expanding the vision and taking the story even further.”
– Daniel R. Mueller | CEO –
Hence at the dawn of this new era, the time felt right for the De Toren identity to evolve to perfectly represent the proverbial steps forward, the wines and the estate itself have taken.
As an employee of De Toren for more than 20 years, and a shareholder for many of them, I can honestly say that the time was right for these changes and upgrades. The team has welcomed the Swiss shareholders and their vision for the brand and have seen first-hand the result of new young blood and newfound energy being injected into the brand.“
– Albie Koch | COO –
Thanks to the historic research conducted, we rediscovered that the majestic Cape Lion, known for its magnificent black mane and its spectacular size, larger than most other lion species, once roamed these lands. Utilising this information, the lion icon in the old De Toren logo was lovingly redrawn to better represent the legendary Cape Lion and to represent South African heritage, as well as courage and power in the new brand identity. The lion was placed inside the crest, a gold oval band that symbolises continuation, a journey and our quest for perfection. The band of the crest holds five diamond icons, these represent our special connection to the five Bordeaux varieties that are sustainably grown and nurtured on the estate to ultimately craft each of our iconic Bordeaux-style blends. The crest in its entirety is anchored by a Fleur de Li symbol reflecting our intimate connection to France and more specifically the Bordeaux region. The finishing touches were to lighten the background colour from black to more contemporary charcoal which allows the new logo and De Toren icon to shine through in shades of satin, metallic gold with a dash of deep burgundy representing the depth and complexity of our wines.
The vision with the new brand identity was to seamlessly blend the old with the new. An icon worthy to reflect our roots, heritage and a sense of place, balanced by our renewed promise to you, ‘Experience Exceptional’ for decades to come.
Discover the meaning behind our new brand promise, ‘experience exceptional’
