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Have you ever had a problem reading an American wine label? They are in a way easier to read as the Europeans but can be tricky the same time too. I would like to give a guide if you are wondering in a wine store and you want to chose a good US wine on your own.
What needs to be on an American wine label
There are certain things that an American wine label has to include by the law. When I say law, I mean the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department (often referred to as the TTB). But today we are only going to focus on the ones that will suggest the type of wine we have in the wine bottle. Let’s see these mandatory requirements:
Requirements
Brand name
The front label always has to consist the name of the brand (aka. winery, producer or vineyard). Nowadays the so called ’brand wine’ is increasingly common too. (For single vineyard wines, and what does it mean, click here!)
Wine type
One of the most important thing as it will show us what’s in the bottle. It could only state ’Red wine’ or ’White wine’ in case of a blend. If the wine made out of a particular variety, then this is what you will find on the front label if it consist more than 75% of the specified grape variety.
Appellation of Origin
That simply means where are the grapes from. It is always a geographical area, sometimes it can just say for example ’Oregon’ but usually the more specific the place, better quality the wine can be. The best ones generally comes from a single vineyard or you can find a term AVA on the label as well. AVA means American Viticultural Area, a specific area within the US. There are a bit more than 200 AVAs and for such a title on the bottle to appear, at least 85% of the grapes must have been grown within the boundaries of that AVA. For county- and state-level AVAs, this minimum requirement falls to 75%.
Good news for Cali wine lovers! California law requires that 100% of the grapes come from within California for any wine labeled with the appellation of origin California or a geographical subdivision of the state. This is stricter than the federal labeling standard.
Alcohol content
It is mandatory even on the front label specifically if the ABV (alcohol by volume) is higher than 14%. Wines lower than 14% doesn’t have to state the exact amount or it can be labelled simply as ’Table wine’.
Producer and the Bottler
The back of the label has to state the name and address of where the wine has been made and bottled. It can be in different styles such as: Produced and bottled by, Cellared and bottled by, Made and bottled by, Bottled by, ect… The optional statement ‘Estate-bottled’ is reserved exclusively for wines grown, harvested, crushed, fermented, processed and bottled by a single winery estate, within the boundaries of a single AVA.
Conclusion
These are the mandatory requirements on a wine label in the US that can suggest the style of the wine in our bottle but we probably need to pay attention to one more thing to help us chosing the right bottle. And this is the Vintage. The vintage will show us in which year the grapes have been harvested. There are regulations about it as well however I find it more useful to know which vintages were good or bad to decide and also if I need a certain style of wine or grape variety to age or I can drink it as soon as it has been released.
I hope I could help you with this guide and gave you a clearer sight on how to choose a bottle of good US wine for your taste buds! If there’s any terms that you are not familiar with, just let me know and I will do my best to help you out!
Now it’s time to enjoy a bottle! Cheers!
Sources:
Napa Valley Wine
Wine Searcher
The Author
Great content! Keep up the good work!
Thank you!