The Wine Fact Center

Reading wine labels is the focus of this part of our wine 101 guide…

If you buy wine, knowing how to read a wine label is a useful skill to have. By knowing what to look for and what to ignore you’ll be able to sort through the multitude of choices and the find ones that best match your personal choices. So, lets look at each aspect of a wine label individually.

Firstly, the vintage; most bottles of wines stocked in stores are meant to be drunk immediately so look for ones that were produced in recent years. This particularly applies if youre looking for a fresh, lively, fruity wine at a reasonable price. Of course, there are some vintages of certain wines that are well known, but these tend to be pricey; research these wines online or in specialty magazines to learn about them before you buy.

Secondly, the geography; there are lots of famous regions and vineyards around the world (too many to list here) so this can be a bit of a lottery and unless you do prior research. You probably wont know the pros and cons of each wine region, but as a general rule, bottles that list specific vineyards or towns rather than entire countries or regions are better. This is because many bad wineries will try to benefit from the name of the large region where they are located, even if their vineyards are in undesirable parts of the area.

Thirdly, the alcohol content; it’s recommended that you look for one at around 14% or less. It might seem like a high alcohol content would be a good thing, but if you want to enjoy your wine and not just drink it to get drunk, it’s better to stay in the lower range of alcohol content as ones in the higher range tend to be unbalanced.

Lastly, the fine details; including information such as the dates the grapes were harvested and the wine was bottled, whether the grapes were grown and fermented at the same place (called estate-bottling), and the phone number of the winery are all positive signs. Details such as these add to a wines authenticity and indicate that the wine producer cares about and has faith in their product.