Winemaking Terms Defined: Wine Label Terms

Buying wine can be confusing. Government laws attempt to ensure that labels are not misleading, but that doesn’t mean they’re always easy to interpret. Here are some definitions for terms often found on wine labels:

Important Note: Most of these terms have legal meanings that may vary by country; the definitions below are generalizations.

appellation  name, in French. Refers to the place where the grapes were grown. This may be a country, state, county, region or vineyard, or the equivalent in another country (e.g., “Bordeaux” in France or “Sonoma Valley” in California). In most countries, the appellation must be an officially recognized grape-growing area, and a specific percentage of the grapes used in the wine must have been grown there.

blanc  white, in French.

blend  a wine made from more than one variety of grape, or more than one type of fruit. Always assume that a wine that does not specify a grape variety is a blend, and even if it does, it may still be a blend (see varietal).

brut  very dry, in French.

cru  vineyard, in French. On a French wine, refers to the one where the grapes in this wine were grown, and will be com­bined with words showing the grade level, e.g., “Premier Grand Cru.” (They have a complicated system in France for grading their vineyards based on factors that influence the quality of the grapes produced, such as location, soil type, age of the vines, etc.)

cuvée  vat, in French. May mean either the same as reserve, or that the wine is a blend. For Champagne, means the grape juice was the first to come out of the press and therefore is of higher quality.

dessert wine  refers to the alcohol level (over 14%), though probably it’s also very sweet.

demi-sec  medium dry, in French. Same as semi-dry.

domaine  estate, in French. Likely seen as part of a vineyard name or brand name.

doux  sweet, in French.

estate bottled  the wine came from grapes grown on land owned or controlled by the winery, and the vineyard and winery are in the same geographic area. Also known as chateau bottled.

reserve  may mean that the wine is of special quality or has been aged for a long period. Or may be totally meaningless, as this term is not well regulated by law.

rouge  red, in French.

sec  dry, in French.

semi-dry  medium dry, leaning toward dry. The U.S. does not regulate the meaning of terms involving sweetness, so these are determined by the bottler and may not be consistent.

semi-sweet  medium dry, but leaning toward sweet.

sulfites (also spelled sulphites)  chemicals naturally occurring in wine and also used to sanitize equipment and to kill unwanted microbes in wine. In the U.S., commercial wines are required to state on the label the presence of over 10 ppm in case a consumer is allergic to sulfites.

table wine  a wine with 14% alcohol or lower, suitable for drinking with a meal. Likely is a blend.

varietal  a wine made from (mostly) only one variety of grape, e.g., Reisling or Merlot. Don’t assume all the grapes were of that variety; most countries specify a minimum percentage that has to be of the stated variety and it can be as low as 75%. If no variety is stated, it likely is a blend.

vintage  the year (most of ) the grapes used in the wine were harvested. Most countries specify a minimum percentage that had to have been grown in the vintage year, commonly 85%. If there is no vintage specified, the wine may be a blend of different years.

For more information and a summary of label information by country:

www.tastingmaster.com/tutorials/winetasting/How%20to%20Read%20a%20Wine%20Label.pdf

Other sources: www.ttb.gov; winemaking.jackkeller.net; www.winepros.org; en.wikipedia.org.

Photo credit © Gaston Thauvin/sxc.hu