Do you know all the terms of wine labels?

How to choose a favorite bottle of wine in front of a dazzling array of shelves or in a unique wine cellar often makes wine beginners at a loss. Interesting design and excellent quality usually excite wine lovers, but in fact, the terminology of wine labels on wine bottles should not be underestimated. If you want to choose the wine that meets your expectations, reading the wine label is the key.

Let me decrypt the text concept on the wine label for you, so that you can choose red wine more conveniently!

0 1

Year: year

It refers to the harvest year of the grapes used to brew this wine, not the bottle year of this wine. Aging is not necessarily better, because most wines need to be drunk in the same year of production. Familiarity with different years helps you to know more about wine. Generally speaking, the quality of wine mixed for many years is not high, because most of these wines are mixed for several years, in order to enhance the flavor of wine.

02

Alcohol content: alcohol content

It will tell you how strong this wine is and how ripe the grapes are when they are picked. Alcohol content includes: wine grade, place of origin, wine style, etc. In the "old world" producing areas, wines with an alcohol content of 13.5% or higher are generally the highest quality grades; "New World" wines, such as American wines, have high alcohol content. They are generally brewed from grapes with high maturity, and their fruit flavor is usually more intense, but the flavor is relatively inconspicuous.

03

Variety: grape variety

Refers to the specific grape species used for wine making. Not all wines will indicate the grape variety. This information indicates the grape variety selected for brewing wine. However, many mixed wines will not indicate all the mixed varieties and their percentages. If the variety is not marked, look at the origin information of the wine, because according to the naming method of the origin, the variety of wine grapes in this area is fixed.

04

Manor bottling: winery bottling

This term means that the people who brew and package this wine also grow grapes on their own land, so the wine bottled by the winery requires that its grapes must come from vineyards and be brewed in the winery. It is usually a symbol of good wine when drinking.

05

Name: place of origin

The country or region where grapes are used to make wine. It can be very broad, such as California, or very specific, such as Napa Valley. Generally speaking, the more specific the label of the place of origin, the better the quality of the wine and of course the higher the price. Some wines will also indicate the vineyards of their selected grapes.

06

Reserve: treasure

In almost all wines, it is just a marketing term that can be ignored. The only exception is rioja wine from Spain; There, the word "Bao" means that the wine has been aged for three years, one of which was carried out in wooden barrels.

07

Gold standard: gold standard

The word "standard" is the easiest to fool people. In fact, there is no official statement or honorary title of "gold medal standard". This wine probably didn't win the prize at all.

08

Big wine: good wine

This term can be translated as "quality wine". Traditionally, this term should refer to the best quality wine produced by French winemakers. However, there is no official statement or regulation about who can use this term or how this bottle of wine tastes.

09

Winemaker's Choice: Winemaker's Choice

Generally speaking, this term is intentionally used by winemakers. Either this wine is really a good wine in the winery, or it is just the marketing term of the winery.

Reading wine labels is a real technical job. Understanding wine labels requires not only a deep understanding of wine culture, but also extra time to distinguish it. Through the above introduction, do you know more about wine labels?