How to read a wine label
Buying wine can be a paralyzing challenge. Facing awall of unfamiliar bottles can frustrate even the mostworldly consumer.
Those bottles have labels, often with loads of information about the character and nature of the wine within. But the more detail they offer to knowledgeable wine consumers, the more baffling they seem to the uninitiated.
To cut through the confusion, some wineries simply furnish fewer facts. These wines— often hugely popular ones like YellowTail, Barefoot and 19 Crimes— rely on brand names to build an audience. For dedicated wine lovers, though, the facts are crucial.
Every winery does things a little differently. Some wine cultures, particularly in the OldWorld, emphasize the place the grapes were grown rather than the variety of grapes in the wine. Sound historical tradition guides that position, though some regions permit or even require the grape variety on the label. And in theNewWorld, where labels routinely identify the grapes, some of the highest-esteemed wines don’t break down their blends for consumers.
Should there be a better, more consistent system for labeling wine? That might make life easier. But wine historically has been largely a local expression. The beauty of wine— and, arguably, of wine labels— is in the distinctions and differences.
Some of what you see on labels will seem obvious: All ought to list the name of the producer, where the grapeswere grown and the vintage— that is, the year the grapeswere harvested.
But even here you will have exceptions. Not all wines are vintage wines. Champagnes are frequently blends of multiple vintages, as are some other wines, like tawny port and even the occasional red or white. And some inexpensive wines may be what the industry calls “bulk wines,” in which the grapeswere grown and vinified into wine in one country, then shipped in bulk to another to be bottled.
Often the vintage is consigned to a neck label, or put around back. Why? It saves on the expense of reprinting labels each year.
What follows is a key to interpreting common types of wine labels. The best advice: When in doubt, ask your wine merchant.
Ghislaine Barthod Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Gruenchers
This is a classic label for a Burgundy, one of the most esteemed French wine regions and also one of the most complicated. It comes complete with a simplified provincial coat of arms and an old Gothic font used for the region, ChambolleMusigny.
1. Ghislaine Barthod is the producer of the wine. A more old-fashioned label might have rendered the name in fine print. The increased emphasis here is a nod to the commercial importance of the producer today.
2. Chambolle-Musigny The region in which the grapeswere grown, which in classic French style is displayed most prominently.
3. Premier Cru Les Gruenchers In the Burgundian hierarchy, vineyards are rated on their potential to make distinctive wines. At the top are the grand crus, vineyards so distinctive as towarrant their own appellation. Just underneath are the premier crus, prestigious in their own right but always listed with the region in which they reside. This indicates that the grapes came from Les Gruenchers, a premier cru vineyard within the Chambolle-Musigny region.
4. Appellation Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Controlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected wine-growing area. This line is the official notice that the wine meets the requirements for using the appellation, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru, on the label. Many French labels use either “premier cru” or “1er cru.” The French term Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée may be used interchangeably with the EuropeanUnion term, Appellation d’Origine Protégée.
5. Mis en bouteilles par French for “bottled by.”
6. Propriétaire-Récoltante indicates that Barthod is both the proprietor of the estate and the grape grower, or récoltante.
7. 750ML— 13% alc./vol
Indicates that the bottle contains 750 milliliters, the standard size of a single bottle, and that the wine is 13% alcohol. Wines can range fromaround 7% for a sweet wine, in which all the grape sugar is not fermented into alcohol, to 20% for awine fortified with spirits, like port. But most dry wines today range from roughly 11.5% to 15.5%.
Willi Schaefer Mosel GraacherDomprobst RieslingAuslese 2016
This typifies an oldfashioned German wine label, full of essential information that novices will findmystifying, perhaps mitigated by the image of a kindly monk raising a glass. It is adorned by the conventional old motifs of a coat of arms, on the barrel, and grape bunches.
1. Willi Schaefer The name of the estate, in a German Gothic font. Its address is just underneath.
2. Mosel The region in which the wine is made, theMoselValley inwestern Germany.
3. Graacher Domprobst Domprobst is the name of the vineyard, situated in the village of Graach.
4. RieslingAuslese Riesling is the grape; auslese indicates that the grapeswere ultraripe when harvested, and usually suggests a very sweet wine, unless you see the phrase “auslese trocken,” a rare designation for a dry wine made from ultraripe grapes.
5. 2016 The vintage. 6. Prädikatswein The Prädikat system, often used in Germany and occasionally in Austria, evaluates grapes according to six ripeness levels when harvested, including auslese. These designations are generally used for sweet wines, but, depending on the region, may also be used for dry. A dry wine may be labeled Prädikatswein without the ripeness designation.
7. GutsabfüllungA
German term noting that the winewas bottled on the grounds of the winery.
8. VDPGrosse Lage VDP is a German association of leading growers. It awards the term “grosse lage” to the best vineyard sites. Not to be confused with the maddeningly similar “grosselage,” which simply indicates a collection of mediocre vineyards with supposedly similar characteristics.
9. LA.P.Nr. 2 583 154 14 16 Amandated code for tracing the bottle, should any problems arise.
Monteraponi Chianti Classico
As with French wine, Italian labeling tends to emphasize place rather than grapes. So you will have to look somewhere other than this label to learn that this wine is 95% sangiovese and 5% canaiolo. Vineyards and crests are popular with Italian label designers, too. The clean lines make this label easy to read.
1. Monteraponi The name of the estate.
2. Chianti Classico The appellation in which the grapeswere grown. Chianti Classico is the historic heart of the greater Chianti region.
3. Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita The official indication that thiswine meets the standards of the appellation. DOCGis the highest Italian quality category, awarded only to certain appellations. The EuropeanUnion designation Denominazione di Origine Protetta may be used interchangeably.
4. Integralmente prodotte e imbottigliato da AziendaAgricola Monteraponi di Braganti & C. Wholly produced and bottled by theMonteraponi wine estate. Braganti is the surname of the proprietors.
5. Radda in Chianti— Siena— Italia The estate is situated in the town of Radda in Chianti, in the province of Siena.
6. Contiene Solfiti Contains sulfites.
7. LN.01.16 Code for the lot number or bottling date.