Wine Bottle Labeling

Wine

The amount of information a wine bottle label shows may vary according to the quality level as well as the wine and alcohol laws of any particular country or area within a country. A prime example of this is the difference between the top wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy. While the Bordeaux wines are mostly known by the Chateaux or estate that produce them, the Burgundy labels are definitely more emphatic when it comes to information on the communes, villages or vineyards where the grapes were grown.

In spite of all the different permutations, most modern commercial wine labels would be expected to have the basic information as follows:

The name of the wine: Usually carried where the name will stand out from the other details.

Alcoholic Strength: A wine has to be classified into a style based on its alcoholic strength which is often stated by '%Vol'.

Geographical Indication: This can be as basic part of the label to suggest a wine from a particular country like 'Chilean Table Wine' to more specific ones like the French Appellation d'Origin Controlée (AOC), a particular American Viticultural Area (AVA) in the United States or information a little more ambiguous like 'South Eastern Australia' which suggests that the grapes were sourced anywhere from the vast zone which includes Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales!

Name and address of the producer: This can take the form of a very generic description like 'Produced and Bottled by What'sinaname Vineyards, Valle Central, Chile to a back label information detailing the exact postal address of the winery. With increasing consumer awareness and popularity, wine producers around the world, especially in the 'new world' are also focusing on creative 'back labels' as an effective communication tool. In their most comprehensive form, the back labels will often summarize the entire wine's profile.

Varietal Information: This is optional. Once again, the inclusion of a grape variety will follow a country's wine laws. For instance, in the EU or Australia, if a vintage is the label, 85% of the variety should come from that particular year.

Vintage: The inclusion of vintage depends on a region's wine laws, for example, a 'Table Wine' from the EU may not state the vintage but if the year is mentioned, 85% of the wine should be the produce of that year.

Volume: This may be expressed in different units like millilitres (ml), centilitres (cl), litres (l) and fluid ounces (fl.oz).

Wine Type or Designation: A bottled wine produced for commercial purposes, would normally fall under a category or designation that best explains the type of wine. These can range from as simple terms like 'Table Wine', 'Quality Wine', 'Sparkling Wine', and 'Fortified Wine' or even just 'Wine'! There are a few more specific descriptions like the Qualitätswein mit Prädikat (QMP) level of German wines, Vin de Pays of France, Denaminazione de Origen Controlata (DOC) and so forth.