Wine labels: Reading between the lines

 

What’s in a name? Quite a lot if you’re a consumer or producer of wine. A poll released today shows that 79 percent of the people surveyed thought the region where a wine comes from was an important factor when buying a bottle of wine and 75 percent said they would be less likely to buy a bottle of wine that gave the impression of coming from a region such as Champagne or the Napa Valley when in fact it did not.

The kicker: When presented with two labels for comparison, most consumers were unable to determine the correct origin of the wine.

In hopes of making the location equation a little less puzzling, winemakers from Napa Valley, Paso Robles, Sonoma County and 12 other premier international wine regions are banding with well-known chefs to campaign for truth-in-wine labels.

“A wine’s unique characteristics cannot be duplicated anywhere in the world except its country of origin,” Christopher Taranto, marketing director for the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, said in a press release announcing the campaign. “Misleading consumers to believe that their wines come from a place they do not is damaging to the worldwide marketplace for wines. Working with Porto, Jerez and Chianti Classico and all of the partners in the Joint Declaration to Protect Wine Place & Origin, we call on the U.S. to support our efforts and protect these wines.”

The poll was among 1,000 wine consumers who purchase at least three bottles of wine a month. It was released by the signers of the Joint Declaration to Protect Wine Place & Origin, which was formed in 2005. Chefs in support include Thomas Keller of Per Se in New York and The French Laundry in the Napa Valley and Wolfgang Puck.

Protecting place names has emerged as a hot-button issue across the food and beverage world as consumers have become more interested in the provenance of the plate, and glass. It’s quite a surprise to learn that parmesan cheese is not the white powder Americans used to shake over spaghetti but a distinct product made only in certain regions of Italy, including Parma. Ditto the revelation that sherry is a real place (Jerez, Spain) with numerous and high-quality wines, not just a generic name for something sweet and cheap.  The U.S. has signed an agreement prohibiting domestic producers from using port, sherry or champagne on their labels but grandfathered in existing brands before 1986, an ongoing source of contention.

I’ve been a fan of reading labels, especially the nutritional labels on food, for a while. It never ceases to amaze me when I see something labeled “all-natural” and “healthy” on the front of the package and I flip it over and see the first ingredient by volume is “sugar.”

Wine labels, which are regulated by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, are a bit trickier. For one thing, they’re notorious for flowery prose, especially on the back labels, individualized styles and a whole lot of variables in what gets listed. Generally, what you want to look for is the front label and any place names listed. If the wine says “California,” for instance, that means that 100 percent of the grapes used in the wine come from the Golden State.

Highlights from the poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies

• 79 percent consider the region where a wine comes from an important factor when buying a bottle of wine;
• 75 percent report they would be less likely to buy a wine if they learned that it claimed to be from a place like Champagne, Napa Valley or Oregon, but in actuality was not;
• 84 percent think that the region a wine comes from is extremely important in determining its quality;
• 96 percent say that consumers deserve to know that the location where wine grapes are grown is accurately stated on wine labels; and
• 98 percent support establishing worldwide standards for all winemakers that would require that they accurately state the location where wine grapes are grown on wine labels.

Here is a good primer on wine label rules from the Napa Valley Vintners, I’ve recapped some of the key parts below.

Vintage: Optional. The year designates the year in which the grapes were harvested. As of May 2006, the U.S. law allows that up to 15% of the blend can be from a vintage other than the stated year. However, appellation-specific wines are held to a higher standard.

Appellation of Origin: Wine labels may contain several levels of geographic distinctions:

• a. California State law requires that 100% of the grapes come from within California.
• b. Other States Federal law and nearly all other states require that 75% of the fruit must come from within the named state.
• c. Officially Designated Viticultural Areas. Since 1983, at least 85% of the grapes must come from the named region (for example “Napa Valley.”)

Wine Type: Mandatory. A wine may be labeled by a grape or varietal name such as Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon, or it may be given a generic name such as “Red Table Wine.” Prior to 1983, a wine labeled as a varietal was required to contain at least 51% of the named grape varietal and have the “taste, aroma, and characteristics” of the grape varietal. Beginning in 1983, wines using varietal names must derive at least 75% of their volume from the grape designated.

Vineyard of Origin: Optional. Many wineries name the vineyard in which the grapes were grown because the winery believes the property produces an unusually high-quality grape. The winery or an independent grower may own the vineyard. Federal policy requires that 95% of the grapes must have been grown in the vineyard named.

Producer and Bottler: Mandatory. The label must indicate the bottler and its location. Several descriptions are common:

• a. “Produced and bottled by” certifies that the bottler fermented 75% or more of the wine. Used in combination with other information on the label, such as a vineyard, this term provides the consumer with significant information about the origin of the wine and who is responsible for its production.
• b. “Cellared and bottled by” indicates that the bottler has aged the wine or subjected it to cellar treatment before bottling
• c. “Made and bottled by” indicates that the bottler fermented at least 75% of the wine (10% before July 28, 1994)
• d. “Bottled by” indicates that the winery bottled the wine, which may have been grown, crushed, fermented, finished, and aged by someone else

Estate Bottled: Optional. This term certifies legally that the winery grew 100% of the grapes on land it owns or controls and that the winery crushed, fermented, finished, aged, and bottled the wine in a continuous process. Both the vineyard and winery must be located in the viticultural area that is stated on the label.

Alcohol Content: Mandatory. This statement on a table wine indicates the alcohol content by volume, with a tolerance of plus or minus 1.5%. However, the tolerance cannot be used to label as a table wine a wine containing more than 14% alcohol.

Declaration of Sulfites: Mandatory. Beginning in 1988, wines which have a level of 10 parts per million or greater of sulfur dioxide must be labeled with a sulfite declaration.

Government Warning: Mandatory. All wine bottled after November 18, 1989 must bear the federal warning.

So endeth today’s lesson. My sincerest appreciation to anyone who read all the way to the bottom. You deserve a nice glass of something if it’s after 5 p.m.

Properly labeled, of course.

Cheers.