You Canã¢â‚¬â„¢t Read the Label From Inside the Bottle Quote

Credit... Alexandra Bowman

The Cascade

The wine shop tin can exist intimidating, with and so many different styles of labeling. Here's help in decoding a dozen basic types.

Credit... Alexandra Bowman

Ownership wine tin can be a paralyzing challenge. Facing a wall of unfamiliar bottles can frustrate even the about worldly consumer.

Those bottles take labels, of course, often with loads of information about the character and nature of the vino inside. Simply the more than item they offer to knowledgeable wine consumers, the more baffling they seem to the uninitiated.

To cutting through the confusion, some wineries simply furnish fewer facts. These wines — often hugely popular ones similar Yellowish Tail, Barefoot and 19 Crimes — rely on brand names and marketing to build an audition. For dedicated wine lovers, though, the facts are crucial, even if information technology takes some didactics to decode a characterization.

Every winery does things a little differently. Some wine cultures, particularly in the Old World, 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 allow or fifty-fifty crave the grape variety on the label. And in the New World, where labels routinely identify the grapes, some of the highest-esteemed wines don't break downwardly their blends for consumers.

Should there exist a meliorate, more than consistent arrangement for labeling vino? That might make life easier. Only wine historically has been largely a local expression, with customs and traditions arising in inconsistent and sometime peculiar ways. The beauty of wine — and, arguably, of vino labels — is in the distinctions and differences.

Some of what you lot see on labels volition seem obvious: All ought to list the name of the producer, where the grapes were grown and the vintage — that is, the year the grapes were harvested.

Only even here you will have exceptions. Not all wines are vintage wines. Champagnes are frequently blends of multiple vintages, equally are some other wines, like tawny port and fifty-fifty the occasional red or white. And some inexpensive wines may be what the industry calls "majority wines," in which the grapes were 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 characterization, or put around back. Why? It saves on the expense of reprinting labels each yr. Doesn't the alcohol-by-volume listing pose the same problem? Well, most legal entities permit only enough wiggle room that producers can get away with not recalculating that figure each year.

What follows is a fundamental to interpreting some common types of wine labels. I've chosen some of the near confusing ones, and some of the simplest. The best advice: When in dubiousness, enquire your wine merchant, whose job it is to direct you to the all-time bottle for whatever occasion.

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This is a classic label for a Burgundy, one of the nearly esteemed French wine regions and also one of the nearly complicated. It comes complete with a simplified provincial coat of arms, vines laden with grapes and an sometime Gothic font used for the region, Chambolle-Musigny.

one. Ghislaine Barthod is the producer of the vino. A more than old-fashioned label might have rendered the proper noun 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 grapes were grown, which in archetype French style is displayed near prominently.

iii. Premier Cru Les Gruenchers In the Burgundian hierarchy, vineyards are rated on their potential to make distinctive wines. At the superlative are the grand crus, vineyards so distinctive equally to warrant their own appellation. Just underneath are the premier crus, prestigious in their ain right simply 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 expanse. This line is the official detect that the wine meets the requirements for using the appellation, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru, on the label. Many French labels apply either "premier cru" or "1er cru." The French term Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée may be used interchangeably with the European Union term, Appellation d'Origine Protégée.

5. Mis en bouteilles par French for "bottled by."

6. Propriétaire-Récoltante indicates that Ms. Barthod is both the proprietor of the estate and the grape grower, or récoltante.

7. 750 ML — xiii% alc./vol Indicates that the canteen contains 750 milliliters, the standard size of a unmarried bottle, and that the wine is 13 percent booze. Wines tin can range from around 7 percentage for a sweet wine, in which all the grape sugar is non fermented into alcohol, to 20 percent for a wine fortified with spirits, like port. Merely most dry out wines today range from roughly eleven.5 percent to 15.v percent.


Here is another traditional French label, from the minor appellation of Palette, in Provence. It, as well, has a coat of arms and depictions of grapes. But Palette is a simpler region than Burgundy, with only a scattering of producers and without the hierarchy of vineyards and other distinctions, so the label needn't offer as much information.

1. Château Simone The name of the producer, in a kind of precursor to an Art Nouveau font, is superimposed over a rendering of the chateau and its vineyards.

2. Palette — Appellation Palette Contrôlée, the official notice of the appellation, is given pride of place at the peak of the label.

3. Mis en Bouteille au Château This goes i better than a simple "mis en bouteille" by specifying where the wine was bottled, at the place the wine was made.

4. Rougier, Propriétaire, Meyreuil (B. du R.) France Propriétaire denotes the possessor of the winery. Rougier is the surname of the family that owns Château Simone; Meyreuil is the commune in Provence where information technology is situated.


Alsace does things a little differently than the rest of France. For many years France and Federal republic of germany fought to dominion this region and, as in German-speaking wine cultures, the label lists the grape multifariousness, riesling. Alsace has likewise identified vineyards with the potential to brand exceptional wines, which it designates grand crus. Across the legal requirements, private estates may decorate the characterization and add together discretionary information.

i. Domaine Zind Humbrecht Domaine designates the proper noun of the producer, Zind Humbrecht. "Domaine" suggests that the producer grew the grapes rather than buying them.

2. Alsace Grand Cru Rangen The region, Alsace, and the vineyard, Rangen, which has been designated a grand cru. Just underneath is a year, 1296, and a crest with grapes and the initials I.H., taken from a carved stone found years ago in a vineyard by the Humbrecht family. The winemakers attribute the crest to an ancestor, Isadore Humbrecht.

3. Clos Saint Urbain A "clos" is an enclosed vineyard. This clos is named for a 16th-century chapel devoted to Saint Urbain that sits within the vineyard.

4. Rangen de Thann The Rangen vineyard, the southernmost grand cru in Alsace, stretches between two villages, Thann and Vieux Thann. The Clos Saint Urbain portion is in Thann, which the Humbrecht family unit believes is the most interesting function of the vineyard, hence Rangen de Thann.

5. Appellation Alsace Grand Cru Contrôlée The official designation that the wine meets the requirements of the appellation.

half-dozen. Riesling The wine is made entirely of this white grape.

7. Indice This is a proprietary lawmaking used past Zind Humbrecht to indicate the wine's level of sweetness, with Indice 1 the driest and Indice 5 the richest and sweetest. Information technology volition be filled in depending on the vintage.

eight. Olivier et Margaret Humbrecht The electric current proprietors.

ix. Contains sulfites Sulfites are compounds that both occur naturally in fermented grape juice, and are added in the course of sulfur dioxide, an almost universally used preservative. This characterization is mandatory for wines in which the sulfite level is more than 10 parts per million. This includes well-nigh all wines, whether sulfur dioxide is added or non.

10. 50 24 R A proprietary code for labeling, lot number or bottling appointment.


This typifies an erstwhile-fashioned German wine characterization, full of essential information that novices will observe mystifying, possibly mitigated past the image of a kindly monk raising a glass. Information technology is adorned by the conventional old motifs of a glaze of arms, on the barrel, and grape bunches.

1. Willi Schaefer The proper name of the manor, in a German Gothic font. Its address is simply underneath.

ii. Mosel The region in which the wine is made, the Mosel Valley in western Deutschland.

three. Graacher Domprobst Domprobst is the name of the vineyard, situated in the village of Graach.

4. Riesling Auslese Riesling is the grape; auslese indicates that the grapes were ultraripe when harvested, and usually suggests a very sugariness wine, unless you see the phrase "auslese trocken," a rare designation for a dry out vino made from ultraripe grapes.

v. 2016 The vintage.

6. Prädikatswein The Prädikat system, often used in Germany and occasionally in Republic of austria, evaluates grapes according to half-dozen ripeness levels when harvested, including auslese. These designations are generally used for sweet wines, only, depending on the region, may also be used for dry. A dry wine may be labeled Prädikatswein without the ripeness designation.

7. Gutsabfüllung A German term noting that the vino was bottled on the grounds of the winery.

eight. VDP Grosse Lage V.D.P. is a German association of leading growers. Information technology awards the term "grosse lage" to the best vineyard sites. Not to be dislocated with the maddeningly similar "grosselage," which simply indicates a collection of mediocre vineyards with supposedly similar characteristics.

ix. L A.P.Nr. 2 583 154 fourteen 16 A mandated code for tracing the canteen, should any problems ascend.


Every bit with French wine, Italian labeling tends to emphasize place rather than grapes. And so you will have to look somewhere other than this characterization to larn that this wine is 95 per centum sangiovese and 5 percent canaiolo. Vineyards and crests are popular with Italian label designers, too. The clean lines make this characterization easy to read.

1. Monteraponi The name of the manor.

two. Chianti Classico The appellation in which the grapes were grown. Chianti Classico is the historic heart of the greater Chianti region.

three. Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita The official indication that this wine meets the standards of the appellation. D.O.C.G. is the highest Italian quality category, awarded just to certain appellations. The European Union designation Denominazione di Origine Protetta may be used interchangeably.

4. Integralmente prodotte e imbottigliato da Azienda Agricola Monteraponi di Braganti & C. Wholly produced and bottled by the Monteraponi vino estate. Braganti is the surname of the proprietors.

5. Radda in Chianti — Siena — Italy The estate is situated in the town of Radda in Chianti, in the province of Siena.

6. Contiene Solfiti Contains sulfites.

7. LN.01.sixteen Code for the lot number or bottling appointment.


Bartolo Mascarello is i of the most traditional estates in Italian republic, all the same this label is clean and mod, centered on a painting by Bartolo Mascarello, who died in 2005. (Y'all can find a crest on a canteen of Bartolo Mascarello Barolo.) In the Piedmont region of Italy, many wines, including barbera, dolcetto and others, use the name of the grape equally role of the appellation, a useful feature when multiple grapes are grown in a particular place.

ane. Bartolo Mascarello The proper name of the estate.

2. Barbera d'Alba Fabricated from barbera grapes grown in the Alba region.

3. Denominazione di Origine Controllata The official indication that the wine meets the requirements of the appellation. D.O.C. is non as high a classification every bit D.O.C.G., which would be awarded to an appellation as a whole, not to an individual wine. The European Wedlock term Denominazione di Origine Protetta may be used instead.

four. Barolo — Italian republic The winery is in the boondocks of Barolo.


An one-time-school California wine label, notably unlike from European labels in emphasizing grape variety over identify. The proper noun Mayacamas is said to hateful "howl of the mountain panthera leo" in the linguistic communication of the Wappo, the original inhabitants of this role of Northern California, and the dancing lions within the stylized "M," surrounded by vines, pay homage to that paradigm.

1. Mayacamas The producer, named for the mount range that divides Napa and Sonoma counties.

ii. Cabernet Sauvignon The predominant grape. Past California police, a wine with 75 percent or more than of a particular grape can use the name of the grape to identify the vino.

3. Mt. Veeder — Napa Valley Mount Veeder is a sub-appellation — an American Viticultural Area, in domestic wine parlance — within the larger Napa Valley appellation.

4. Produced and bottled past Mayacamas Vineyards Indicates that the winery crushed, fermented and bottled at to the lowest degree 75 percentage of the wine, but does not advise that the winery grew all the grapes. The phrase "estate bottled" would signal that a winery grew all the grapes and produced the wine.

5. Alcohol 14¼% A wonderfully quondam-fashioned rendering, forgoing the decimal equivalent.


Similar the label on the Ghislaine Barthod Chambolle-Musigny, this Burgundy label includes all the pertinent information, yet information technology is presented without the traditional decorative touches, and uses a cleaner, simpler typeface.

i. Domaine Boussey Laurent & Karen (proprietaries-récoltants) Laurent and Karen Boussey are the proprietors and the grape growers.

2. Volnay 1er Cru Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée The official appellation. The grapes were grown in a premier cru vineyard in the village of Volnay.

iii. Les Taillepieds The name of the vineyard.

iv. Grand Vin de Bourgogne A meaningless but compulsory indication that the wine is from Burgundy. It could also read but Vin de Bourgogne.

5. Mis en Bouteille au domaine etc. Bottled at the estate, forth with other information.


Dissimilar the busy Mosel label of Willi Schaefer, this 1 has been streamlined, offer merely some basic data: the vineyard site, Steffensberg, in the Mosel region, the vintage and the name of the producer, Weiser-Kunstler. The striking font, ITC Willow, is meant to evoke the era of 1895 to 1920, said Alexandra Kunstler, a proprietor. Rather than shields or grapes, the characterization uses small images of owls and a butterfly. The owl, Ms. Kunstler said, comes from the proper name of her partner, Konstantin Weiser, whose surname means "wise." The butterfly suggests life and vibrancy. All of the formal, required information has been offloaded to the back characterization so that the front end can serve as a decorative enticement.

1. Weiser-Künstler The name of the estate. Note that the ITC Willow typeface doesn't let an umlaut, which represents a "ue" sound, and then an "e" has been inserted into the "u" of Künstler.

2. Mosel The wine comes from the Mosel region.

3. Steffensberg The name of the vineyard.

Steffensberg dorsum characterization

1. Weiser-Künstler The producer.

2. Mosel The region.

3. Enkircher Steffensberg The vineyard, Steffensberg, in the town of Enkirch.

4. Riesling 2018 trocken The grape and the vintage. Trocken ways the wine is dry out.

5. Erzeugerabfüllung Bottled past the producer.

6. D-56841 Traben-Trarbach The manor is in the town of Traben-Trarbach.

7. Vom Boden The name of the importer, in an one-time Gothic font.

eight. Regime Alarm This is required on all bottles of vino sold in the United States.


This is an entry-level riesling that comes from unlike parts of the Rheingau region and so does not have a vineyard designation. Because the pertinent data is simpler, it lends itself to the equivalent of a brand name, Eins-Zwei-Dry, rather than myriad facts. The pun, Dry for drei, emphasizes that this is not a sweetness wine. It is all superimposed over a "3" in case you did not know that eins, zwei, drei is German for ane, two, three. The brand is most prominent, though information technology is the numeral that dominates.

i. Leitz The producer.

2. Eins Zwei Dry out The brand.

3. Rheingau The region in which the grapes are grown

4. Riesling The grape.

v. Dry out The wine is not sweet.


This is pure brand, and one of the most popular wines in its class. The label is dominated by the unsettling paradigm of a hooded, shackled prisoner, along with the printed name. A few sparse facts take been consigned to the back characterization. Even in that location, the constituent grapes are not listed. Wines like this are aimed at an audition that may love the wine, or the brand, simply is not curious most its origin and product.

The Prisoner dorsum label

one. Napa Valley The region where the grapes are grown.

2. Blood-red Wine In case you were wondering.

3. Bottled By This but indicates that the Prisoner Wine Company bottled the wine. Quite possibly, information technology did not abound the grapes or even brand the wine.


Some labels are highly idiosyncratic. This one comes from the Montefalco region of Umbria, and is the polar opposite of the Prisoner's. It offers data far beyond what is required, presented in a multitude of typefaces, some of which resemble breezy handwriting. Some parts are in Italian only; others are translated into English.

one. Antica Azienda Agricola Paolo Bea Vignaiolo in Montefalco Paolo Bea is the proper noun of the estate; Antica Azienda Agricola denotes that information technology'southward an old wine estate; Vignaiolo in'Montefalco ways winemaker in Montefalco.

2. Montefalco Sagrantino The proper name of the appellation. This, too, like Barbera d'Alba, names the grape, sagrantino, and the place, Montefalco.

3. Secco — Denominazione di Origine Controllata due east Garantita Secco means the wine is dry out, while D.O.C.G. is the highest classification for an appellation in Italy.

4. Pagliaro The name of the vineyard, indicating that all the grapes come from this place. It'southward given the virtually prominent place on the label.

5. Vendemmia 2012 The vintage or harvest.

six. Metereolgia etc. This department includes much information, about the weather (a dry out, hot summer); the grapes; the fermentation (only with native yeast); the maceration (37 days with skins and seeds, and without temperature control); the processing (16 months in stainless steel vats, 44 months in large barrels); recommendations for serving and production totals.

7. Contiene 77 mg/l This indicates nearly 77 milligrams per liter of sulfites. The legal maximum level for sulfites in vino in the Us is 350 parts per million, or roughly 350 milligrams per liter.

eight. Nel rispetto dei reciproci A warning to wine publications not to expect to receive samples.

9. Not disperdere Another alert, to consumers: Don't litter.

10. Integralmente produtto due east imbottigliato all'origine Produced and bottled at the estate by Paolo Bea.

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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/dining/drinks/read-wine-label.html

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