What does „single vineyard” mean on the wine label?

I wonder if this question ever come up when you were looking for a bottle in a wine shop or supermarket. Even for me or other wine professionals has difficulty to choose the right wines and I thought I will help you understand more this labelling term and the reason behind it.

That is a tricky question regarding that sometimes the term „single vineyard” is not even stated on the label rather the name of the vineyard itself. And the difficulty starts here as we have to be aware of the vineyards names or at least assumed this is a single vineyard wine. Most of the times the price can give us a clue if we are dealing with such bottles as usually they are more expensive. And  now we have arrived to our main question, why does it cost more and what does it mean?

The term „single vineyard” is used in the wine industry, referring that the grapes harvested for that bottle comes from one specific vineyard in that particular region or appellation. It means the grapes grown there, have been isolated from all other vineyards due to its superiority.It usually indicates  that the winemaker gives more attention to the grapes grown on that particular site, which ultimately results in a higher quality wine.These vineyards are special because of that terroir (The combination of soil, topographical features, water quality, sunlight and the daily temperatures.) When all of these elements are in harmony, it will result a higher quality wine which will explain the difference on the price too.Of course, the more labor intense work will cost more as these sites are hand-harvested and has bigger potential of aging them (when the wines are aged in barrels and/or bottles, it always costs more for the winery which will reflect on the price as well).

We have to mention the single vineyard on the label doesn’t mean we are dealing with a single varietal wine! It can be a blend of different grape varieties as long as they are from the same vineyard. Most of the times however these wines are single varietal to give back the true characteristics of the variety and the site where it is grown. Good news: when you see Grand Cru and 1er Cru wines from France, they are single vineyard wines from their respective appellations. So if you are looking for these wines but don’t speak French, just seek out to these bottles. I promise, you won’t be disappointed!