Wine labels can be confusing – especially if French! There are several things that you should be able to discover when you are looking at a bottle of wine:
1. Country of Origin & region
Most wine bottles have a the wine producer’s country on the label, and also the region in which it was made. In many cases, certain wines can only be made in one region in order to be able to claim that it is what it says it is! Eg Rioja wine from Spain needs to be made in La Rioja (a region in the north of Spain). And of course, most famously, Champagne. Often the wine takes its name by the region -as in both those mentioned.
Often the region can give an idea of the level of quality of the wine – but that is not always a given. A well known and oft quoted example is the “Grand Vin de Bordeaux”. Any producer based in Bordeaux can declare that their wine is a Grand Vin de Bordeaux so beware!
2. Name and/or producer
The name of the wine producer should be stated on the front label. You may not know the producer, or even heard of them, but every producer will make a slightly different wine, and this is a statement of their pride in their product. Of course, it may be a family name, the business or the Winery.
3. Bottled in….
Wines that have been bottled at the winery attached or associated with the vineyards in which the wines were grown, are often considered of a better quality than those bottled elsewhere. The winemaker on an estate takes great care to blend and bottle the wine to his own satisfaction. Often smaller wineries may not have their own bottling plant and sell their grapes or “juice” to what is known as a négociant. This is a company (or individual) that buys wine from a number of wineries/ vineyards. The word means trader in French. They buy grapes, grape juice, or fermented wine from growers and vineyards. Then they bottle them, label them, and sell them.
Check if the wine says ‘Mis en Bouteille au Château’.- this will mean that it was bottled on the wine estate. Other languages have similar phrases:
German: “gutsabfullung” .
Italian “imbottigliato all’origine”
4. Grape Variety
Historically, the French did not put the grape variety on the label- they assume that the consumer would know just by the Chateau name or the region. For example, they will assume that you know that white Burgundy (Chablis) is made from Chardonnay and red Burgundy is made from Pinot Noir. Of course, wine connoisseurs do tend to know that. But with the increasing popularity of wines from other countries, where the grape variety is displayed, and the more generic tastes of the consumer (in that they believe that they like “Sauvignon Blanc” or “Pinot Grigio”), even the French have now started putting the varietals on the label.
The grape variety will help in choosing a wine as it will indicate what the wine tastes like: Cabernet Sauvignon tends have flavours of blackcurrant, black cherry, blackberry and other dark fruits. Sauvignon Blanc is grapefruity, lemony (if from New Zealand anyway!)
Blends often have the grape listed according to the percentage of the grape used – ie the first listed will be the prominent grape. Although regulations vary, even if a wine is varietally labelled, it may contain up to 15 percent of a different grape and producers often add a little bit of something else to balance the wine (a classic one is Syah with a little bit of Viognier) They don’t have to declare that if they don’t want to.
5. The appellation of the wine which is the legally defined and protected geographical area where the grapes, used in the making of that particular wine, were grown, This can give you an idea of what grapes might have been used within the bottle, as per the regulations for that region.
6. Vintage or non-vintage
The ‘vintage’ is the year in which the grapes were harvested then used to make the wine. This is often on the front label but also on the neck of the bottle or on the back label.
Depending on the weather in any one particular year, the quality of the vintages may vary – for example, frost early on or too much rain at the wrong time in the growing season may affect the vintage. At the premium end of the market, certain vintages indicate the quality of the wine. Wine from a good year is better than wine from a bad year.
Vintage Champagne and Vintage Port are only “released” in good years so the date of the vintage is a sign of better quality (generally).
The vintage date also shows how much ageing the wine has had and can be a guide to quality also. In some regions such as Rioja, words like ‘Reserva’ and ‘Gran Reserva’ can only be used if the wine has been aged for specific lengths of time, which are dictated by regulations.
As a general rule non-vintage (NV) wines can be drunk young – i.e. as soon as they are made available.
7. Alcohol level (ABV)
The Alcohol by Volume (ABV) level is useful to know. These have been getting higher and higher over the years -so beware! Red wines are usually around 12 – 14% with most white wines a little lower from 8 -12%. This is declared usually on the front or back label. Legally, they don’t have to be more accurate than 0.5 percent one way or another. BUT they are key for the producer. In the UK, wines under 15% ABV attract one level of excise duty (at the time of writing £2.67 plus VAT per bottle of still wine) . This tax increases for wines over 15% ABV.
It is key that the alcohol level of the wine is “in balance” with the acidity and fruit in the wine. A high level of alcohol can lead to a wine often describes as “flabby” which often means that there is no acidity, but it is jammy, some might even say flaccid, flat.
8. Sulfites / Sulphites
Probably the most mis-understood term on the label!
By law, producers must tell you if sulfites/ sulphites were used, if they exceed 10 mg/litre, in the production of the wine: sulfites reduce the risk of bacterial infection and oxidation.
HOWEVER, sulphites are also naturally occuring in wine-making. They help prevent oxidisation and help to maintain the stability of wine in the bottle, preserving the freshness and fruit flavours. Some people have an intolerance to sulphur compounds so should be aware of any wine with a high level. Sulphites are not only in wine: they also are naturally occurring in cider, baked goods, some canned fruits and vegetables, cereals and crackers, eggs and some processed meats.
9. Indication of Dryness and Sweetness
The sugar in the grape juice is turned into alcohol during fermentation. Sugars in the grapes make winemaking possible. During the process of fermentation, sugars from wine grapes are broken down and converted by yeast into alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide. Depending on how long the wine is left to ferment, the drier the wine and often the higher the level of alcohol.
In determining how sweet a wine is the biggest factor is residual sugar. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the more residual sugar there is in a wine, the sweeter it will be.
There is confusion with “off-dry.” Essentially, off-dry wines (which may also be called “semi-dry”) have a light sweetness to them; some say that when taking a sip, they start off sweet but finish dry. Many German wines fall into the off-dry category (about 21 percent, to be specific)
There is a myth that German wines are all sweet but many are technically ‘dry’, although they do sometimes have more residual sugar and more fruit sweetness. Truly dry German wines have the expression ‘Trocken’ on the label, which means dry. Sweet is describes as ‘Auslese’.
10. Additives
Producers don’t have to declare if egg or dairy products have been used for fining the wine, which makes it clearer and brighter. Sometimes “isinglass” made from the air bladders of fish are used for the same purpose. These days many producers will state if the wine is vegan or vegetarian but only if they have not used these ingredients in the wine production.
11. Production Methods
You may see organic and biodynamic stated on wome label
Simply put, organic wine is made from grapes that were farmed and vinified organically. This means that the farming practices used to produce the grapes do not rely on artificial chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides
Biodynamic wines are wines made employing the biodynamic methods both to grow the fruit and during the post-harvest processing. There are some myths surrounding biodynamic wines and the methods were ridiculed in the past but there is now a greater level of respect for the biodynamic farmer
In a biodynamic vineyard:
Once you have read all this -you will be ready to uncork the bottle and pour a glass!
