Want to be familiar with wine-labelling…
A
s everyone may have noticed, winebottles are usually decorated, front and back with several types of labels supposed to bring to your attention all sorts of information. Don't be mislaid. If some of them are mandatory, some are optional, and many are unnecessary, superfluous, superabundant, supererogatory, in a word: useless!
What is required by law is just: the name of the vintage, the type of "Appellation" (A.O.C, V.D.Q.S, country wine, table wine, or… cheap-red plonk to-be-avoided… ), figure of alcoholic proof, capacity of content, name and address of the bottler. A "Contains Sulfites" note and a warning to pregnant women recently added, that's all.
If none of the above appears on the bottle, it's because you've just bought a bottle of grape juice!
If none of the above appears on the bottle, it's because you've just bought a bottle of grape juice!
The local press was full of advertisements for these liquids, powders, liqueurs etc… all endowed with imaginary virtues.
Likely also be mentioned - but it's optional - geographic location of production, the colour particularly for foreign wines,(as if, outside the hexagon, people were not able to distinguish red from white (or yellowish to be more accurate), vintage year, type of wine (dry, mellow…), variety.
And on close look, in fine print: age of the gentleman-grower and bust measurement of the lady-grapepicker ( not the other way round!)
As if it wasn't enough there's also all this superfluous stuff with no obvious use except filling the remaining blanks of the label, such as: method of production, distinctions awarded, number of numbered bottles, picture of the Château… list of 50 generation='s leeading to the present winemaker, etc…
Likely also be mentioned - but it's optional - geographic location of production, the colour particularly for foreign wines,(as if, outside the hexagon, people were not able to distinguish red from white (or yellowish to be more accurate), vintage year, type of wine (dry, mellow…), variety.
And on close look, in fine print: age of the gentleman-grower and bust measurement of the lady-grapepicker ( not the other way round!)
As if it wasn't enough there's also all this superfluous stuff with no obvious use except filling the remaining blanks of the label, such as: method of production, distinctions awarded, number of numbered bottles, picture of the Château… list of 50 generation='s leeading to the present winemaker, etc…
And when the front label is filled up, there's always the back label that'll take over anything possibly a long prose about orientation of the plots, method of harvesting and, details of processing conditions, aging in oak barrels or not, barcode… not forgetting a recent picture of the winemaker's tractor or guard-dog.
Same struggle regarding the corks on which anything can be found. The only markings required by law are the ones on the overcap, this round plastic or aluminium stuff (in lead formerly) routinely crushed into a pellet and thrown unread, into the trashbin before even opening the bottle!
Same struggle regarding the corks on which anything can be found. The only markings required by law are the ones on the overcap, this round plastic or aluminium stuff (in lead formerly) routinely crushed into a pellet and thrown unread, into the trashbin before even opening the bottle!
