Hacking the Wine Label

In this article, I cover all the hidden information on the wine label. If you want more information on wine terms on the labels, we have an entire Glossary of Wine Terms. Enjoy!

What’s the most prominent text on the front label?

Always put your best foot forward, right? The biggest text is what the winery is most proud of. It will be one of three things: the region in which the grapes are grown, the name of the winery, or a fantasy name. Which it is will tell you a lot about the wine.

If it’s the name of the wine region, then more than likely it’s a region well known for producing good wines. This is more typical for wines from Europe, but it does on occasion happen elsewhere, too.

In the US and other new world wine regions, the name of the winery is often the largest copy on the label. Does this matter? Not really, as it’s the defacto standard for most wineries.

However, sometimes the wine has a “fantasy name” which is neither the name of the winery or the wine region. It’s a trademarked name that the winery uses to gain attention in the marketplace. This often happens from wineries from countries that Americans are not familiar with. For instance, Ego Bodesa from Jumilla in Spain calls their red wine Infinito which gives the wine a gloss of sex-appeal it otherwise would not.

What’s the smallest text on the back label?

This is more important than the biggest text on the label. This is required language for any wine made in the United States, but it’s the phrase most wineries don’t want you to read, which is why it’s often hidden away in 8-point type somewhere on the back label.

This fine print will show you whether or not the winery actually made the wine, or if they simply bought the wine pre-made and had their labels slapped on the finished product.

You didn’t know that most wineries don’t make their own wine, did you? Also, many wineries don’t even exist. They are known as “Control Brands,” meaning that the wine is sourced from an anonymous source and bottled under the name of a fictitious winery. Some marketers buy the name of a defunct winery and use the name in this fashion. Charles Shaw comes to mind.

One of these three terms will be on the back label: “Cellared and Bottled by” “Vinted and Bottled by” or “Produced and Bottles By” Of these three, only the last one means they winery on the label actually made the wine.

Is the label embossed or inlaid with gold?

This is one of those hacks to determine the winery’s intent. The use of embossing and gold (or silver) inlay is an expensive addition to a label. This is usually done only for wines intended for the luxury market, especially if the label color is off-white or linen. If you find a bottle like this for less than $20, you may have a bargain on your hand.

What are the warnings all about?

Unless you are working heavy equipment, pregnant, or have asthma, you can ignore them. They are a hold-over from the 80’s and that sulfite warning is a red herring. Everything from fresh mushrooms, maple syrup, pickles, and guacamole all have as much (or more) sulfites as a bottle of wine.

ABV is pretty easy to figure out, right?

You’d think the ABV (Alcohol by Volume) would be the easiest thing to parse. If the bottle says it contains 14.5% alcohol, that is definitive, right? Sorry, but it’s not. Due to how the laws around ABV are written, the actual ABV may be several percentages higher or lower than listed.

What does the year signify?

The year on the label is vintage, and that just means the year when the grapes were harvested. Received wisdom often says there are good years and bad years for wine. While that used to be true, it’s mostly PR these days. What they are really saying isn’t that the wine is better or worse, but that it was easier or harder to make good wine in that year. It’s the one point of data that you can easily ignore.

Is a “reserve” wine better?

That term is used and abused far too much. Sure, there are some wineries that use that term correctly (they reserved their best barrels of wine for a special bottling) but it can also mean absolutely nothing.

Where is the wine made?

There is always a place name on the front label. That’s where the grapes were harvested from. It’s very likely the winery is in a completely different place. In fact, I’ve made wine in Philadelphia with grapes trucked across the country from Napa Valley. That’s a bit extreme, but wineries are often an hour or so away from the vineyards.

Place matters a lot to the quality of the grapes inside. Just remember that grapes from famous wine places (like Napa Valley) will always cost more. You’ll always get better quality for your money by buying wine from excellent wine regions that are less well-known.