subject: What Does The Label Say? Understanding Wine Labelsin The Us Pt. 1 [print this page] For as long as wines been around there has been a slew of varied labels decorating the custom wine bottle. From contemporary designs like Innocent Bystander to theme based motifs like the Boarding Pass Shiraz, wine labels are more art than sticker. But any wine connoisseur can tell you that its not the label art but the information it contains thats important. So lets break down what all that small print means.
For starters its important to know that every wine label must meet the laws of the country it is being marketed in. Various countries, regions and on occasions even wineries have their own rules regarding labeling. No matter where a wine was made it must adhere to the regulations of the region its being sold in.
Here in the U.S.wine labels fall under the regulations of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB.) It is a government requirement that a wine bottlehas basic information about the contents on the front label. There are strict rulesthat must be met in order for the wine to be sold in mass or to the public within the states. So for those who make their own wine with a custom wine bottleand label, you dont need to worry about having this information unless you plan to make and sell a large quantity or feel like giving it a professional feel.
Necessary information includes:
Brand This is the name of the wine. For the most part it can be anything the producer wants so long as it is not misleading as to the age, origin or properties of the wine. However it is very important because this is how someone identifies the particular wine.
Class Youll come across a lot of Class 1: Table Wine where this is concerned. It is also acceptable to state the type of wine, which is usually something like sparkling wine, desert wine, or similar designations. There are several classes of wine, ranging from 1 to 9 and each tells a lot about the contents. This is primarily used to help the TTB settle on how much the bottle should be taxed.
It does tell you a little bit about the contents, such as what flavor grouping the wine falls into, but little else if youre looking for specifics.
Alcohol Content (AC) This must be included on any wine thats alcoholic content is over 14%. If it is not stated explicitly but the wine class is Table Wine or Light Wine than it is inferred that the alcoholic content is between 7-14%.
Because of the difficult nature of determining accurate alcohol content, there are variables to account for this. For 14% and under the wine can range 1.5% in either direction. For wine with a 14+% the tolerance is only 1% either way.Keep in mind that despite the regulations in place, over-stating or (more frequently) under-stating the AC is quite common so be prepared for flux when you purchase wine.
The alcohol content is a good place to judge the possible sweetness of the wine. Wines with a content of less than 11% tend to be sweeter while 11-13.5% tendsto be drier. (Dry, in this case, meaning that more of the sugars have been converted into alcohol.) Anything above 13.5% can slide either way, depending on how the wine was made.
As you can see, theres some pretty important information on labels for wine. Theres more to them than just a pretty picture after all! To find out more about the other requirements for wine labels and why contains sulfites must be printed on nearly every bottle of wine, you can continue on to the second article, What Does the Label Say? Understanding Wine Labels in the US pt. 2.
