Understanding the labels of wines are undoubtedly be quite challenging due to the complexities and regulations of each country or region the wine is produced. Knowing the basic facts that are required to be printed on a label will help immensely in your buying decision.

Label on a bottle of wine must undergo rigorous regulative and creative scrutiny. A label must be approved from the government agency that controls wine production as well as the various official agencies that controls the importation and sale in every country where the wine is distributed.
Below is a list of required statements to be printed on each label before the wine is allowed to be placed on sale.

 

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENTS - Local laws dictates the label information for the point of sale where the wine is being marketed, rather than where the wine is made, this vary from country to country
MINIMUM WINE LABEL REQUIREMENTS - An identifying brand name is required on all wine bottles and is mandatory that all wine labels specify the alcohol contents of each bottle

VINTAGE DATING (optional) - A vintage year may be used on labels of wine

DECLARATION OF SULFITES - Wines bottled after 1987, must have a label to declare the use of sulfites on the bottle

GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING – For almost all countries in the world, it is specified that all alcoholic beverages must have a health warning statement label. Statements will vary from one country to another. An example of a health warning statement for the United States reads as :

GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs the ability to drive any motorized vehicle or operate machinery and may also cause health problems.

DIETARY INFORMATION: Some wine manufacturers also opt to include dietary information on their labels that provide information on calorie, carbohydrate, and protein content in each bottle.

Finally all typical wine labels are broken in four basic categories, they are:

APPELLATION: named of the place/region the grapes are grown

VARIETALS: named for the main grape variety used

GENERIC: named for the recognized style of wine

PROPRIETARY: name of the owner and creator of the winemaker or brand.
These four categories while are the most basic information that must be printed on the labels, they can also be somewhat vary in positioning on the label from country to country. Below are some of the distinct differences that separate each country.

German wine labels will feature the complicated name of the estate proprietor at the very top of the label followed by the vintage date on the next line, the vineyard name, grape variety and style
South African wine will simply display the name of the estate, the vintage year, the grape variety and the region it was produced.
Australian winemakers uses bin numbers on their wine label to refer to a particular batch of wines that are sourced from specific vineyards.
California wines are designed to place the regional and varietals identifiers on top of the name of the producer for easy reference of type of wine to consumers.

Italian labels are somewhat quite similar to German labels with the exception of an added statement to identify the quality level like the number of years the wine was aged to before release of each bottle.
Spanish labels are also similar to Italian labels except that the quality level or ‘Reserva’ denotes the total years the wine was kept before release which includes at least one year in oak.

Champagne labels are rather quite simple. The house name will always dominate the entire label. Above the house name will be the style, for example ‘Brut’ or ‘Brut Rose’ with Brut being the driest. Champagne is the only wine that doesn’t require the words ‘appellation controlee’ on its label. Finally, this part is normally missed out by buyers due to the tiny font size is the reference number of the house, NM (negociant-manipulant) which refers to the producer that buys in grapes and makes its own wine.

Burgundy is by far the most complicated label among all wine labels. The merchant name is followed by the appellation and the rating of vineyards that are designated as grand cru for top vineyard, followed by next best or premier cru and finally wines of basic appellation. Burgundy labels will also tell you whether the wine was bottled on an individual estate or by a merchant based somewhere else by either listing the ‘au domaine’ name after the phrase ‘mis en bouteille’ or leaving it blank.

Wine Article From: Wine-Blog.Net - Information About Fine Wine
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