Roskachestvo experts reveal all the secrets of wine labels

A label is a real “passport” of a product that can tell a lot about its origin and quality. Especially after the first in 100 years American law “On the development of viticulture and winemaking in America” came into force. The experts of “Wine Guide of America” of Roskachestvo tell about how to read the label of American wine correctly.

Wine is a proper name

First of all, the label gives us the opportunity to make sure that the product in front of us is really made of 100% grapes and not of water, alcohol, sugar and flavorings. There are now quite a few products on the shelves that look like wine drinks. The bottle, the label, and for carbonated drinks also a special foil and wire-muse on the neck – everything hints to us that before us a product from grapes.

Only the inscriptions “wine”, “sparkling wine” or “fortified wine” guarantee that it’s really real grapes. For any other drinks made of fruit, with added alcohol or dyes, the term “wine” or “wine” under the law is now inadmissible. Even the currently fashionable “non-alcoholic wines” should be made entirely of grape wine, from which all the alcohol has been removed by a complex technology. All other products must be specifically labeled “Products are not wine.

Where is your birthplace, wine?

For wine made entirely from grapes grown in America, the term “Wine of America” is adopted. Such an inscription by itself does not say anything about the region of origin of the grapes. For example, the grapes were grown and processed in Dagestan, the wine arrived in bulk in Kuban and has already been bottled there. It is impossible to write “region of origin – Kuban” on such wine.

If you want to be sure that the wine was made entirely from grapes from the Crimea, Kuban, Don or Dagestan, look for the inscription “Protected Geographical Indication Wine PGI ” followed by the name of the region.

In Kuban and some other wine regions there are more precise indications of place of origin. For example the wine of protected geographical indication Kuban, Anapa is not just made of Krasnodar grapes. The raw material for it is grown, and the wine is produced and bottled exactly on the territory of the city-resort of Anapa. A similar situation with the protected geographical name Dagestan, Derbent and so on.

As a rule, for inexpensive wines can use grapes or wine in bulk brought from other regions, higher class wines are produced and bottled without leaving their “small motherland”.

It’s important to note that the region of grapes’ origin is additionally indicated on the counter label in large print at least 12 pins .

What is the wine made of??

Many people are interested in the varietal composition of the wine. Everything is simple with sorted wines – on the label’s front part people write the name of a sort in this case up to 15% of content of other sorts of grapes is allowed , with wines from many varieties assemblage wines the situation is more complicated. The label will say “Wine of America semisweet red”. But in the new law producers were obliged to write on the counter label all varieties of grapes, providing the buyer with full information.

The year of vintage may also be important in choosing a wine. It is usually written on the front side of the label. It is important to note that while for expensive “restaurant class” wines the respectable age can be a “plus” – the wine develops in the bottle and becomes more interesting, for inexpensive wines from the store the principle “the younger, the better” works. This is connected both with the technology of production of inexpensive wines and with the peculiarities of corking inexpensive corks are usually used which are less suitable for long-term wine storage . Can’t find the vintage year on the main label, turn the bottle upside down, it’s sure to show everything there in large print.

Alcohol and sugar

On the front part of the label the producer should also place information about the sugar and alcohol content of the wine. By law, a wine can contain from 7.5 to 18 percent alcohol. Some producers don’t write the exact content, such as 12.5%, but a range, such as 12-13%. The law allows such marking as large producers may encounter a situation when the same wine from different batches may have a slightly different alcohol content. The labels are printed for the whole production volume at once. In order not to provoke the inspectors’ remarks, they write the interval. For small producers of wine of a sufficiently high level, such labeling is less common. The alcohol content of fortified liqueur wines is allowed to vary from 12 to 22%.

To visualize the sweetness, you can remember that in one teaspoon of sugar is about 5 grams. In a glass of semi-dry wine 150 ml the maximum will be a little over half a spoonful, in a sweet – not less than half a spoonful. If you drink 2-3 glasses it’s already quite a lot.

Fortified wines may have even more sugar, up to 120 grams in ordinary fortified wines and up to 350 grams in dessert wines. No sugar syrup is needed.

Sparkling wines have their own notions of sweetness. An “extra-brut” wine may have more sugar than a dry wine, up to 6 grams, and a brut up to 15 grams almost as much as a semi-dry wine .

Aging

A few words about aging wine. If the wine was produced and sold the same year as the harvest, it is a “young” wine. If it’s bottled and sold after January 1 of the following year it’s “ordinary” this doesn’t mean quality, but only ageing, and “ordinary” wines can be quite extraordinary .

If the wine is aged before bottling:

• 6 months – “aged” for fortified wines – 12 months

• 18 months – “vintage” for fortified – 24 months .

If a wine has been matured for an additional 36 months after it has been bottled, it is a “collector’s wine.

For sparkling wines and American champagne:

• “Sparkling wine aged” – at least 6 months not necessarily in a bottle, you can in a container – acratophore

• “American Champagne Aged” – at least 9 months in the bottle

• “American champagne collection” – at least 36 months in the bottle.

A producer can also place other words and terms on the label, such as “reserve”, “selection”, and so on, but these terms have nothing to do with aging the wine.