Index.php
From Greenthings
Even for the enthusiastic wine drinker, deciding on a bottle of wine can be a difficult task with so many types of wine on the market today. Wine brands won't help both with the many conditions in foreign languages and the tiny print. Often reading a label makes you feel like you need a key decoder ring, but be confident that this isn't to confuse you the consumer, but rather to simply help you. The information on the name will there be to tell you concerning the problems of production the winery and wine and also. When you have an idea of what to try to find on a label, deciphering it shouldnt require much work.
The Brand Name: This is the name of the wine that have been produced by the company. Usually here is the name of the winery or bottler if the winery has many different manufacturers.
Vintage: Most wines will carry the classic anywhere on the container, though that is not a mandatory requirement and won't be on all bottles. A classic could be the year that the grapes used were gathered. Many wine producing countries have laws that require at the least 85 percent of the grapes used to be collected in the year of vintage while in the Usa this figure can be as high as 95 percent.
Appellation of Origin: This is actually the geographic area where the grapes were grown, like California or more a more particular vineyard. Most countries have strict regulations regarding an appellation distinction, and that's why like the vintage; at the very least 85 percent of the grapes used must certanly be from their particular area.
Wine Type: This describes the grapes used to help make the wine. Again this is as broad as Red Table Wine or as certain as Merlot or Chardonnay. Many wine producing countries allow the usage of some non-varietal grapes in the combination. In Europe and Australia, at least 85 percent of the wines information must certanly be from the called varietals, whilst in some areas of america this figure is a lot lower at about 75 percent.
Company and Bottler: What this part of the bottle implies varies considerably based on where the bottle of wine originates from. If grapes are gathered and bottled at the vineyard it's considered to be estate bottled and the label will state this using Mise en bouteille( s) au Chateau (French), Gutsabfllung/Erzeugerabfllung (German) or simply just Estate Bottled.
In accordance with Napa Valley Vintners on the web (napavintners.com) it is even more specific for American bottled wines and the vocabulary even more specifically determines how the wine was bottled: Produced and bottled by confirms that the bottler fermented 75% or more of the wine. Utilized in combination with other information on the label, such as a vineyard, this expression supplies the customer with important information in regards to the beginning of your wine and who is responsible for its production. Cellared and bottled by shows that the bottler has aged the wine or exposed it to attic therapy before bottling. Made and bottled by suggests that the bottler fermented at least 75% of the wine (10% before July 28, 1994). Bottled by suggests that the vineyard bottled your wine, which might have been grown, crushed, fermented, completed, and outdated by another person.
Other Required Information: This depends on what place your wine is from. For instance, wines sold in america are required to have (at the least on the back label) alcohol content, contents size, and customer warnings from the Surgeon General along with a sulphite warning while in Germany wine are required to have an Amptliche Prfungs Nummer which is a number received while in testing. The well-known wine regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Alsace in France may take the word Cru anywhere on the label to point that the wine is from the community or maker of high quality.
A wine label in fact is there to assist you because the customer, not prevent your decision making, while this still could be very overwhelming, when viewed from a point of view of the winemaker. Everything on a label is there to inform you of where the wine originated from and how it was created, and while it will take you a very long time to be able to completely understand every single expression that's placed on a bottle, being able to understand the basics will soon be useful. It is important to understand that rules will change from country to country about what is needed to be on a wine bottle or specific terms used. What might be required in France mightn't be required in Chile.
