Wine Label Information

Apart from being a basic mandatory legal requirement, wine labels are also important information tools for consumers. A commercial wine label often carries details that are not only useful to trace a wine's origin but also acts as an effective communication tool for the producer. The labels are also often glimpses of a region's/country's wine laws.

Please have a look at the individual wine label information for the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, the United States and Australia.

The amount of information a wine label displays, vary according to the quality level as well as the wine and alcohol laws of a particular country. In many cases they also differ within a country. A good example is the difference between top wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy. While the Bordeaux wines are mostly known by the estates/Chateaux that produce them, the Burgundy labels are more emphatic on the vineyards and communes/villages where the grapes are grown. In spite of all the different possibilities, most commercial wine labels are expected to display the following basic information:

• Name of the wine: Most often the wine label will carry a name that will stand out from the other details and
  
• Wine Designation: A bottled wine when produced for commercial purposes, should fall under a category or designation that best explains the type of wine in general and the regional classification level in particular. These can range from as simple terms like 'Wine', 'Table Wine', 'Quality Wine', 'Sparkling Wine', and 'Fortified Wine' to more specific descriptions like the QMP (Qualitätswein mit Prädikat) level of German wines, IGPs (Indication Geographique Protegée), formerly VDP (Vin de Pays) of France, DOC (Denaminazione de Origen Controlata) and so on.
  
• Geographical Indication: Once again, this can be as basic as to suggest a wine from a particular country like 'Turkish Table Wine' to more specific ones like the French AOP (Appellation d'Origin Protegée), formerly AOC (Appellation d'Origin Controlée), a particular AVA (American Viticultural Area) in the United States or something ambiguous like 'South Eastern Australia' which suggests that the grapes were sourced anywhere from the vast zone which includes South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria.
  
• Alcoholic Strength: A wine has to be classified into a style based on its alcoholic strength which is often stated by '%Vol'.
  
• Volume: This may be expressed in different units like millilitres, centilitres, litres and fluid ounces.
  
• 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.
  
• Varietal Information: This is optional. Once again, the inclusion of a grape variety will follow a country's wine laws. For instance, in Australia and the EU, if a vintage is mentioned on the label, 85% of the variety should come from that particular year.
  
• Name and address of the producer: This can take the form of a very generic description like 'Produced and Bottled by XYZ Vineyards, Napa Valley, California 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.

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