Reading Wine Labels

Let’s start with taking the complexity out of reading wine labels.  

1. European wine labels (old world) have a tendacy to provide more detail as shown above.

It’s region and year of vintage are the most important articles when reading wine labels.  This provides the level of oak or even alcohol content. With an old world wine label you will also see a difference in the shape of the bottle.  Allowing indication to the type of grape the wine is instead of labeling it to the wine bottle itself.  

2. Non European Wine labels (new world) provide less content to a label and instead provide basic year, name & grape type on the front.  The back of the bottle is where American labels provide more detailed information to the wine such as alcohol content, its bottler or even import. 

As you indulge more in wine, reading labels will become second nature.  Although it may seem hard to understand labels at first, its fun!  I found it easier to read European wine labels because all the information that was important to me was located on the front.  I found that the region played a key factor in my decision making then front there I could determine how much alcohol content I wanted lol!!

Initially new world table wines were my go to and most favorite when I was on the go and just needed a simple bottle for the night.  Central coast wine are my all time favorite!  If you can just stick to the region of preference the rest will come easy!

Happy Wine label reading!