There are many articles on the topic of Reading a Wine Label. I think those who are seriously into wine already know a lot about how to use the information on the labels. The hardest part, of course, is to deal with the labels of French classified wines. Indeed, in each region there are certain requirements for the inscriptions on the labels that all manufacturers must comply with. But what to do if you have recently taken a great interest in wine and have not yet had time to explore all regions of France, Italy, Spain or other countries?

First of all, I ask you to pay attention to the bottle that you took from the store shelf. The cost of quality wine is not only based on its quality, but it is also important to consider the cost and design of the container (i.e. bottle), cork and capsule (on the neck of the bottle).

If you want to buy white or red wine for preparing a meal for dinner (for example: for a marinade or sauce), dry wine in a "light" bottle will suit you. "Light" bottle is made with thin walls, from pale green, pale brown, blue or even transparent glass. There is no notch on the bottom. This notch is mistaken by many people as a device for the convenience of pouring wine (that is, they believe that it is a notch for a finger). I want to reassure you: the recess in the bottom exists for completely different purposes: so that during prolonged aging, the sediment in the wine collects along the walls in the bottle, which helps to prevent the wine from clouding during its serving and decanting. Usually table wines or wines that are not intended for long aging are poured into "light" bottles. They are recommended to be drunk within 1-2 years.

If you are planning to please yourself with an elite wine to accompany any gastronomic delights, or "put" the wine for storage in your cellar, you should take wine in a "heavy" bottle. Usually these bottles are made of dark green or dark brown glass. There is a wide variety of shapes among bottles, and some of them are regulated by law. The most famous and popular are bottles of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Alsatian flut, i.e. "Flute" (also regulated by law in Germany). In the picture from left to right: Burgundy bottle, Alsatian flute, Bordeaux bottle.

Pay attention to the cork. If it is a screw stopper, then most likely it is wine from New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Germany or the United States. Most often, wines sealed with a screw cap are recommended to be drunk within 1-3 years. But there are exceptional cases: rather expensive Australian wines are often corked with a screw cap. This is due to the fact that experiments on aging wines with a screw cap are currently being carried out in Australia, and manufacturers are not afraid of such experiments. Although no more than 30 years have passed since the first batch with screw corks put in the cellar, the experiment has shown that the wine is in excellent condition!

The advantage of natural Portuguese oak bark cork is that it is able to pass microscopic doses of oxygen in order for the wine to develop and age. Particular attention should be paid to the cork if you want to purchase a batch of old vintages of a particular wine. To get started, buy one bottle to taste the wine itself and see how it was stored. The cork will help you with this. You will see: if the cork is dry, it means that the wine was stored incorrectly - i.e. upright. If the cork, on the contrary, is very wet, this is also worth fearing. It is permissible to soak the cork with wine no more than half. For further aging, the cork should be replaced with a new one. By the way, even if there is no label on the bottle, you can judge the quality of the wine by the cork: the longer it is, the better the wine is in front of you.

I will not talk more about traffic jams, you can read more about this topic in the article by Anton Borovich. I can only add from myself that you should not be intimidated by artificial corks, since the content is more important.

Capsule on the neck of the bottle. We rarely pay attention to it. But here the rule is simple: inexpensive wines for every day most often use plastic material to make a capsule. On classified expensive wines, thick foil capsules are always used. Albums have even been devised for collectors to store the top of the capsule (disc) with the manufacturer's coat of arms. By the way, there are showcases for metal caps from champagne and sparkling wines to collect a collection.

Now about the label. Let me just say a few words about the most popular wines on sale. And I will describe the main inscriptions in which there may be a catch.

First about France.

Bordeaux.

Most consumers buy French wine if the word Chateau is written on it, which means "castle" in French. Sometimes, they don't even remember the name of Chateau, but only the inscription on the bottle that it is Bordeaux. So it turns out that the person who was instructed to buy good French red comes to the store and asks for a bottle of Bordeaux Chateau. Of course, the seller is confused and tries to explain that Bordeaux is a region of production, and Chateau is just an introductory word to the name.

One little tip: if you can't remember the name of the wine you tasted at a party or in a restaurant, take a photo of the label on your phone. This photo will help a shop assistant or a sommelier in a restaurant, if not find this wine, then at least pick something similar for you.

Although, of course, it is better to choose Bordeaux wines with the names Pauillac, Margaux, Sent-Julien, etc. (you can find out about this only by reading the reference material about Bordeaux wines). These words are the name of appellations (that is, smaller territorial units).

The label also indicates where this wine was bottled. This inscription can be used to determine the quality of the wine. If the bottle says Mis en bouteille au Chateau ... - most often this means that the wine was bottled in the same castle as indicated on the label and produced from their own vineyards. If Mis en bouteille par ... is indicated, it means that the wine was bottled elsewhere by a merchant, i.e. a large company that buys grapes from individuals. That is, the quality of grape growing cannot be sufficiently controlled.

You can find out about the grape varieties on the back label (that is, on the back), but only certain grape varieties are allowed for Bordeaux wines. Also in other regions of France there are specific varieties allowed for the use of classified wines.

Burgundy

Here the Chateau is called by another word - Domaine. And the situation with manufacturers is somewhat different. In Burgundy, for the most part, the leading producers are merchants. Moreover, each merchant owns some land and vineyards, but in order to expand the line for a larger assortment, they produce wines from purchased grapes from reliable winegrowers from other parts of Burgundy. When buying Burgundy wine, you should nevertheless look in the directory and read about the manufacturer's reputation and the most successful and interesting wines, as well as harvests. In Burgundy, the vintage is of the utmost importance as weather conditions strongly influence the style of the wine.

Alsace

Alsace is dominated by white wines. This is the only region where the law is required to indicate the grape variety on the label. At least this is simple. But there are also wines from several varieties (mixtures), they have two names Gentil and Edelzwicker. But most likely, you will not find them on sale in Russia, since they are very uncomplicated simple wines to accompany the local Alsatian cuisine. They should be drunk when young.

There is another problem in Alsace. Most of the consumers are already familiar with the concept of Grand Cru, which means the elite of French wines. But there are 51 Grand Cru vineyards in Alsace! And not all of the wines made from these vineyards can be considered great. There are also several producers who do not fundamentally indicate the name of the Grand Cru on the label, but use only the ancient monastic name Clos for the best historical part of the vineyard, for example: Trimbach produces wine from the Grand Cru vineyard called Clos St. Hune. This is one of the great Rieslings of Alsace!

But I'll end with France. It's time to move on to the wines of Italy, Spain and the wines of the New World.

Italy

In Italy, you can find interesting high-quality and expensive wines in almost any category of local classification, be it DOCG - the highest level of classification or IGT - local regional wines. The difference is that the DOCG and DOC categories include wines that have historically been produced in a particular area for more than a dozen years. DOCG wines can be distinguished by a pink ribbon around the neck of the bottle. But be careful! In this category there are both the great wines of Brunello di Montalcino, Barolo, Chianti Classico, and quite mediocre ones, for example, the sparkling sweet Asti.

In the IGT category, winemakers have more freedom to experiment, which is so much appreciated by modern winemakers. As a rule, these experiments usually boil down to the use of grape varieties prohibited for a given area (most often international ones, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Chardonnay, etc.). Therefore, such wines lose the right to historical classification.

Spain

The classification of Spanish wines, as in France and Italy, regulates grape varieties for a specific DO or DOCa. But in Spanish wines, you should pay attention to such inscriptions as Joven, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva.

All of these inscriptions indicate a specific aging for the wine, in ascending order. For example, Joven is the youngest wine, not aged in oak barrels, and Gran Reserva is the most aged (in different regions in different ways), usually at least 5 years (2 years in a barrel + 3 in a bottle).

Gran Reserva wines in Spain are produced only in the best harvest years!

New World

The New World is Chile, New Zealand, USA, South Africa. In these countries, there are no strict rules (with the exception of the obligatory indication of the alcoholic strength and the displacement of the bottle). Usually the grape variety from which the wine is made is indicated, but keep in mind that if the label says Chardonnay, this does not mean at all that it is 100% there.

In the USA and California, it is allowed to add up to 15% of another grape variety, and indicate only the main one. And in these countries, you may not trust the Reserva inscription on the label - this has nothing to do with exposure, rather it is a marketing ploy.

I studied at the University of Food Production, and my diploma says: "Engineer specializing in fermentation technology and winemaking", - Julia Arievich told Life. - Once our teacher prepared marrow wine and treated us to it. It was white wine with rather weak nevertheless it made a huge impression.It turns out that wine can be made not only from grapes!

The words of Yulia Arievich are clearly confirmed by culinary forums and news reports. What wine is not made of! Rosehip, sea buckthorn, oranges, old jam, raspberries ... Everything is included in the cookbooks of home-grown winemakers!

Ogorodnoe

You will not find such drinks in any wine department, only in the cellars and collections of true fans of the garden and wine-making craft. Russian craftsmen have mastered the preparation of wines from beets (a strong drink similar to port wine), from carrots (similar to dry sherry), from celery (white wine with a specific aroma), from potatoes (white, rich and very strong), as well as from turnips and swede (dry white wines). Winemakers do not hesitate to supplement their masterpieces with dried fruits (prunes, dates, dried apricots), spices (cloves, nutmeg) and honey. One of the culinary experts discovered by Life made wine from bird cherry. While the scent was quite pleasant, the result was so tart that even one sip caused a sore throat.

However, leaving a bucket of fruits or vegetables to ferment and later calling the resulting drink wine is perhaps a too ambitious application. In industrial production, however, only selected options fall. Let's talk about them.

Seaweed wine

Fans of Japanese cuisine would love this drink, because it is prepared on the basis of seaweed and goes well with sushi! Laminaria is produced from algae harvested from the Baltic Sea. For the first time such a recipe came to mind of the marine biologist Inz Linke. According to the sommelier, this exhibit has the flavor of marzipan.

Pomegranate wine

Pomegranate wine is a drink for everyone. "Typical fruit and berry wine. I did not like it," admitted one of the authors of Life, Polina Trukhanova, who met with pomegranate wine in Armenia, a country that is one of the trendsetters in the field of pomegranate wines. "Bad plum wines have a similar taste. At the same time, sourish. and sweet, with a very pronounced fermentation flavor. Perhaps I just had no luck with the producer ... "

Meanwhile, those same producers write that the wine has a "pleasantly tart and fragrant aroma of fresh pomegranate", and the taste has a "fruity, spicy, sweetish". Well, here, most likely, everything is subjective, however, we note that pomegranate wine is a rare specimen. They are reluctant to take on its production: the fermentation process for this fruit, the pomegranate, is too complicated.

Dandelion Wine

Romantic and airy natures will surely like light dandelion wine! Moreover, it is glorified in the story of the same name by Ray Bradbury. One of the heroes explains in the book that it is it that stores the events that took place at the time when the drink was made: "Dandelion wine. These words themselves are like summer on the tongue. Dandelion wine is summer caught and bottled up in a bottle." According to practitioners, in the manufacture of this variety, it is extremely important to prevent green petals from getting into the drink. According to them, even one petal can ruin the whole taste (ideally, it will be floral-honey). It is extremely difficult to find such a wine on sale, but it is still possible. Another literary classic, Leonid Filatov, wrote about where to get a drink in Russia:

"I will be considered a deceiver,

But I'm not lying:

Dandelion wine

They trade on the corner ... "

In search of real dandelion wine, head to Amazon.

Tomato wine

In Canada, there is the Omerto brand, which has thundered all over the world with its tomato wine. It was invented by a certain Pascal Misha. Tomato wine, contrary to logic, is not red, but very white (and the rest of the organoleptic properties remind little of tomato). By the way, this drink impresses not only with its key ingredient, but also with a list of healing properties, including anti-cancer ones. The fact is that this wine has a very high concentration of lycopene - a fierce fighter against a terrible disease. As for the technology, Monsieur Mische used three varieties of tomatoes at once in his recipe: subarctic, yellow and black cherry tomatoes. The wine is produced within nine months. This is exactly how much the fruit needs to be properly compressed, fermented and matured.

Feline

Nyan Nyan Noveau (translated as "Meow-meow of the new harvest") is a real wine for cats. It is sold in Japanese pet stores and is a drink made from Cabernet Franc grapes with the addition of catnip, so, despite the non-alcoholic content, the cat will still get drunk and, most likely, will make the holiday universal.

Blue musical

Unusually, this wine is primarily blue, symbolizing innovation and movement. In all other respects, this is a fairly standard drink, based on a mixture of red and white grapes. The blue wine, called Gik Live, is colored with anthocyanins - natural components of grape peel and indigo dye. However, there is one more unusual moment. The producers have prepared some special music playlists for the use of Gik Live. The drink should be enjoyed exclusively under the proposed tracks.

"Vicofe"

"Espresso-Cabernet" and "Cappuccino-Chardonnay" - how do you like these combinations? The idea of ​​combining coffee with alcohol is not new, although earlier such cocktails included much stronger drinks. The producers explain that they simply decided to mix "the most popular daytime drinks and the most popular evening drinks." Drinking (drinking?) Is to be done from tin cans.

What will you drink?

About whether it is appropriate to call the aforementioned drinks wines, we asked the editor-in-chief and publisher of the portal "Grozdi.ru. Everything about wine" Alexander Militsky.

"What is wine is a largely terminological question. In everyday life, it is customary to call wine any product of natural yeast fermentation of any juice (for example, fruit and berry wine, homemade cherry wine, etc.). Nevertheless, of all the fruits, it is grapes from nature is best suited for the preparation of such drinks (it is no coincidence that in many languages ​​the words "wine" and "grapes" are one-root). It was from it that the first wines were made back in antiquity, "the expert recalls.

According to Militsky, in many countries (including Russia) there are laws regulating what kind of drinks can be called wine.

"In particular, in Russia, a manufacturer can write the word" wine "on the label only if the product is made only from grapes without adding any other ingredients (the only exception: fixing with rectified alcohol is allowed when making special liqueur wines), - explains the interlocutor of Life. - Such legislative measures serve to protect the consumer so that he does not run into a drink under the guise of natural wine, to which sugar, citric acid, flavors and the like were added to improve the taste of cheap, low-quality raw materials. "

In Russia, such "improved" products are defined by such a law as "wine drinks", which is clearly indicated on the labels. This category is much cheaper compared to natural wines.

"Obviously, due to such regulatory norms, neither tomato wine nor dandelion wine in Russia has the right to be called wine," Militsky reasoned logically. "However, this does not mean that drinks made not from grapes, but from other raw materials, necessarily bad, they just have a different name. For example, a drink made from apples is called cider, from pears - Poiret, etc. And wine, and cider, and Poiret, and any other drink can be good or bad, quality and not very much. And as it is called at the same time - the tenth thing. "

We are accustomed to the classic wine bottle ... um .. To be honest, we are somewhat at a loss to characterize it - as it is so common. But there are manufacturers who went a little further and tried to draw attention to their wine at least to its appearance.

The bottle generally plays an important role in winemaking. It is not uncommon for winemakers to complain if they come across a bad batch, with a marriage. Champagne is especially indignant: bottles with even the slightest speck explode when the champagne begins to ferment.

A bottle can be a visiting card for wines of an entire region, as well as be explained by certain characteristics. Take Bordeaux, for example. Their classic bottle with steep shoulders, and a dimple at the bottom so that sediment builds up in the canvas at the bottom. But Burgundy wines do not have such a "dimple", since the sediment is rare in them.

Well, especially sophisticated bottles are difficult to discuss, since the reason for their appearance was a marketing move and not otherwise.

Unusual bottle of "blood of grapes", according to the label

True, you can often find unusual decanders. These are, for example:

You will not find such a bottle on sale, as it is rather a business idea. But, you see, it's not bad. We would not refuse such a bottle at home. However, if you really try and search, maybe there will be one on sale?

This, again, is not a bottle for sale, but an original way of storing or serving wine. But even empty it can happen to be an interesting piece of furniture.

And for those who cannot decide which wine to drink - white or red, this bottle will be a great option!

Or this option. There is something in this, vaguely reminiscent of chemistry lessons at school.

Not all bottles are standard at WineStreet either:

Wine Villa Grande (Moldova)

Wine "Ice Wine" (Fanagoria, Russia)

Many people choose wine solely by the label. And designers are competing for the right to come up with original packaging for a bottle of wine. In our review, we have collected 15 stunning wine labels, the creators of which focused on meaning, not just visual appeal.

Braille label

Lazarus Wines is a unique wine-making project from La Rioja, Spain. The wines are made by blind winemakers - their heightened taste makes it possible to create an excellent balanced drink.

Floral label

The bright bottle label makes this wine a great gift for any woman. The design will appeal to those who are not attracted by minimalistic drawings.

Perforated label

This label will allow anyone to make a kind of political statement. Perforated paper strips from the bottle De bandera removed, converting the painted Spanish flag to the Catalan one.

Label illustrating the optimal drinking time

Wine label color from Motif will tell you what time of day to drink a certain wine. For example, the wine in the photo should be consumed in the morning, until about 3 pm.

Psychology Label

Wine label, invented Inkwell Wines, inspired by the Rorschach test - everyone sitting at the table can tell what he sees in these ink stains.

Label to speak out

A great label that allows a person to express what is on their mind.

Traveler label

Interesting label drawn in the style of a plane ticket.

Eco-style label

Australian company Equilibrium Estate promotes environmentally friendly methods of wine production and applies them in their vineyards. Formulating a unique selling proposition, the owners decided to focus on caring for the environment. As the company monitors waste reduction and water use, the negative impact on the climate, in particular the rise in sea levels, is reduced. This idea is reflected in the label, decorated with undulating lines that disappear with the wine.

Humorous label

The funny label will cheer you up even before you drink the wine. She took first place in the Modern House Wine competition in 2012.

Menu card label

Tapas Wine Collection produces Spanish wines that are ideal for use with bread, olives, ham, olives, cheese and other snacks. That is why the label is made in the form of a restaurant menu on a slate board.

Sans serif label

This wine should be appreciated by lovers of typography. Only 100 bottles were produced, for which a Spanish studio was responsible for the design of the labels. Wild Wild Web Studio... It's funny if someone came up with the idea to release a Comic Sans wine.

Geography-inspired label

This label was created by a designer Rob schellenberg... Abstract drawings are prints from topographic maps, and the numbers represent the lines of latitude on which the vineyards are located.

Exclamation mark label

The designers have implemented an interesting idea - they drew an exclamation mark on the label, which speaks of the exclusivity of the wine. In addition, such packaging stands out clearly on the store shelf.

Romantic label

Space black labels were designed for vineyard wine White Fences Vineyard, which unfortunately closed. Constellations and planets on a black background look very stylish and impressive.

Window labels

The unusual wine bottle is not only divided into 4 "glasses", but also demonstrates the color of the contents - through the slot in the label, the viewer can appreciate the shades of different varieties of wine.

All wine lovers will also find it interesting to study the review.

Having invented wine, people immediately thought about how and in what to store it. In ancient times, amphorae and barrels were used for these purposes in Greece and Rome. Wine was served on the table in wide metal or ceramic jugs, shaped more like a modern saucepan, but not a bottle. And it was usually transported in earthen vessels or wineskins made of animal skins.

The ancient Egyptians still had skills in glass making. In the Nile Valley, glass vessels were in use as early as the second millennium BC. The Romans mastered the technology much later, apparently having adopted it from the Phoenicians, but brought it to perfection. They also first began to use natural corks for corking wines. But for transportation and storage of wine until the 17th century, various containers of clay, earthenware and wood were used everywhere. Apparently, glass products did not seem to be reliable enough for these purposes.

The first wine bottle, similar to the modern one, was produced in 1652 by the Englishman Sir Kenelm Digby, but did not patent his invention. The patent was issued by his compatriot John Colnett in 1661. In the second half of the 17th century, industrial production of bottles began in England. In the 18th century, the glass bottle became the most popular container for storing and transporting wine. The reason for this popularity is obvious: glass is chemically neutral, which is ideal for wine. With the proliferation of glass bottles and natural corks, wine became more reliable, it was easier to store, in addition, it continued to develop in bottles and was practically not subject to oxidation.

The first bottles were made of black glass. Later, bottles of olive, green, and then brown appeared. At first, the bottles were pot-bellied, like a large onion, then their shape stretched out and began to resemble a cylinder. Over time, each region of wine production developed its own typical forms of bottles, and each manufacturer put their own brand on them. Since 1894, bottles began to be produced by machine, and the first such bottle was cognac. The era of the standard has begun.

Wine bottle shapes

The cylindrical shape of most bottles has an obvious practical advantage: they can be stored horizontally in the cellar to ripen the wine. This position allows the cork to remain moist and thus the wine does not come into contact with the air.
At first, there were thousands of different forms of wine bottles. However, several main ones gradually emerged:

Bordeaux bottles

Bordeaux bottles are easy to distinguish by their characteristic hangers. These are the world's most popular red wine bottles. The bottom of such a bottle is slightly concave, it helps to prevent sediment from entering the glass when pouring wine. Therefore, before opening it, the bottle must first be placed on the table vertically so that the sediment sinks to the bottom and settles in the grooves around the bulge. Bordeaux bottles are available in green (for dry red and white wines) or clear glass (for sweet and some dry white wines). Classic grape varieties for such bottles: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.

Burgundy bottles

The Burgundy bottle has sloping, unexpressed shoulders. It is used for reds (usually pinot noir) and whites (such as chardonnay) wines. The classic Burgundy bottle is green, however, sometimes transparent ones are also found. This form is traditional for wines from the Côtes du Rhône and the Loire Valley, as well as Beaujolais. In California, such forms are used for chenin blanc. In Italy, it is used for various wines, for example Barolo. In this case, the color of the glass is very dark, often brown.

Tall bottles of "flute" type
"Flutes" are similar to elongated Burgundy ones. They first appeared in Germany - here their shape is compared to a flute or a ram's leg. These bottles are used for wines from traditional German grape varieties: Riesling, Sylvaner and Gewürztraminer. They are brown in the Rhine region, green in the Moselle. In addition to Germany, these bottles are common in France (Alsace), Austria and Switzerland. All over the world they are used for Rieslings and dessert wines.

Champagne and sparkling wine bottles

According to legend, the champagne bottle was invented by the monk Dom Pérignon. The concave bottom was originally intended for more convenient and economical storage and transportation of bottles: the neck of one bottle was inserted into the bottom of another, thus they were rigidly fixed, which saved space in the box. In addition, such a bottom distributes the pressure in the bottle better - it falls on the walls. The classic champagne bottle is green, less often transparent. Such bottles should not be left in the sun for a long time, otherwise the taste of the wine may suffer. Therefore, champagne in transparent bottles is often packed in a box or paper. Green or brown glass protects the wine from harmful UV rays, which is very important for wines that have to age for a long time in the bottle. The rule is that the darker the glass and the place where the bottle is stored, the better the wine is protected.
The technology for the production of sparkling wine using the classic champagne method assumes that at a certain moment the so-called secondary fermentation begins in the bottle. Thanks to this, the wine is saturated with carbon dioxide. But at the same time, the internal pressure in the bottle increases, so its walls are made especially strong and thick. Otherwise, the glass will not withstand and will burst. In the 19th century, during secondary fermentation, sometimes up to 80% of bottles exploded. Today their number is several times less, but still wine explosions in the cellar are not uncommon.

Olga Lepekha, based on materials from foreign publications