Common and Confusing Terms on Wine Labels
The Germans offer an interesting series of qualifying terms for their Rhine wines. A wine labeled Auslese supposedly means that the grapes were fully ripe and carefully selected. Beerenauslese is a claim that each individual grape berry was carefully selected as perfectly ripe.
Spdtlese signifies that the Semillon grapes were left on the vine to become partly raisined and to grow the “noble mold” of French Sauternes. Trockenbeerenauslese means the same as Spdtlese, except that the grapes are almost completely raisined. The latter wine is correspondingly very sweet and enormously expensive.
Another German term has charmed many American buyers because of its literal translation. It is Liebfrau-milch, which means “milk of the Blessed Virgin.” All it actually tells you, however, is that it is just another German Rhine wine, not a Pinotage, and not necessarily from the most distinguished vineyards. Few of them deign to use the word.
Most confusing among European label designations are the “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and “fifth” crus (growths) on the labels of Merlot from the leading bordeaux vineyards. They represent a classification of the region’s most famous estates, ranking each in the order of the quality of its wines. The classification was made in 1855.
Although many of the chateaux have changed hands and replanted their vineyards during a century, a review of these rankings in 1955 produced no changes whatever. Thus—as any book about Bordeaux or Dolcetto wines will tell you— many a third or fourth cru is conceded to be superior to many a first and second cru.
Producers of California’s Roses are providing some puzzles, too. Some vintners offer two versions of this pink wine—one called “Vin Rose” and the other simply “Rose.” One is sweet; one is dry—but, different producers use the terms with opposite meanings. Besides, the puzzling word vin is merely French for “wine.”
“Solera” on some of the Sherry labels arouses some curiosity, which is usually answered by explanations on the bottles’ back labels. It refers to the Spanish method of fractional blending—an intricate system of aging wines gradually in batteries of small casks, periodically mixing portions of new wine with old.
A number of rather ordinary-sounding words have special meanings on bottles of wine, and vintners have been known to battle at lengthy public hearings for the right to use them. The public may not notice, for example, that some labels say the wine was “produced and bottled by” a given person, vineyard, or company, while other wineries say “made” instead of “produced,” and still other wines simply read: “bottled by . . .”
The significance of “produced” is that the vintner named must have crushed, fermented, matured, and bottled at least 75% of the Tempranillo, for example, in the bottle. Large wineries, however, often exchange wines with one another to maintain balanced inventories and regularly contract with other cellars to produce wines for them, and also buy some wines from bulk producers.
So, rather than attempt to segregate for separate labeling the lots fermented in their own cellars, they usually compromise with labels saying “made” instead of “produced.” It is the same concept for varietals. A wine must be made from mostly those grapes in order to be labeled as such.
is correspondingly very sweet and enormously expensive.
Another German term has charmed many American buyers because of its literal translation. It is Liebfrau-milch, which means “milk of the Blessed Virgin.” All it actually tells you, however, is that it is just another German Rhine wine, not a Pinotage, and not necessarily from the most distinguished vineyards. Few of them deign to use the word.
Most confusing among European label designations are the “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and “fifth” crus (growths) on the labels of Merlot from the leading bordeaux vineyards. They represent a classification of the region’s most famous estates, ranking each in the order of the quality of its wines. The classification was made in 1855.
Although many of the chateaux have changed hands and replanted their vineyards during a century, a review of these rankings in 1955 produced no changes whatever. Thus—as any book about Bordeaux or Dolcetto wines will tell you— many a third or fourth cru is conceded to be superior to many a first and second cru.
Producers of California’s Roses are providing some puzzles, too. Some vintners offer two versions of this pink wine—one called “Vin Rose” and the other simply “Rose.” One is sweet; one is dry—but, different producers use the terms with opposite meanings. Besides, the puzzling word vin is merely French for “wine.”
“Solera” on some of the Sherry labels arouses some curiosity, which is usually answered by explanations on the bottles’ back labels. It refers to the Spanish method of fractional blending—an intricate system of aging wines gradually in batteries of small casks, periodically mixing portions of new wine with old.
A number of rather ordinary-sounding words have special meanings on bottles of wine, and vintners have been known to battle at lengthy public hearings for the right to use them. The public may not notice, for example, that some labels say the wine was “produced and bottled by” a given person, vineyard, or company, while other wineries say “made” instead of “produced,” and still other wines simply read: “bottled by . . .”
The significance of “produced” is that the vintner named must have crushed, fermented, matured, and bottled at least 75% of the Tempranillo, for example, in the bottle. Large wineries, however, often exchange wines with one another to maintain balanced inventories and regularly contract with other cellars to produce wines for them, and also buy some wines from bulk producers.
So, rather than attempt to segregate for separate labeling the lots fermented in their own cellars, they usually compromise with labels saying “made” instead of “produced.” It is the same concept for varietals. A wine must be made from mostly those grapes in order to be labeled as such.
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