Sprechen Zie German Wine Label?

Learn How To Read A German Wine Label Oh boy. There is a reason I left how to read a German wine label as the last part of this How To Read Old World Wine Labels series. Unlike French wine labels and Italian wine labels, the German wine label has everything on it from producer to what color underwear the winemaker was wearing at the time of bottling. Where info stops on the front label, it picks up on the back and you almost need two bottles to fit it all. Not that I have a problem with needing two bottles, but let’s see, there’s producer, region, village, vineyard, grape variety, level of ripeness, level of sweetness and as if it matters at that point, vintage. P.S. it does matter. By the way, if you missed the start of this series or any of the other Old World wine label posts you can find them here: How to read Old World wine labels How to read a French wine label How to read an Italian wine label Do you like pyramids? Because I have another one for you. This one is called the German Wine Quality Pyramid. It looks like [...]

Per l’Amore di Italian Wine Labels

How To Read An Italian Wine Label If you love acronyms, which I know you do, you’re going to love to learn how to read an Italian wine label. All Italian wines fall into one of four categories within the two main categories of Table Wine and Quality Wine, which we’ve already discussed in this How To Read Old World Wine Labels series. By the way, if you missed any of the previous posts in this series you can find them here: How to read Old World wine labels How to read a French wine label These categories are: Table Wines VdT (Vino da Tavola) (vee-NOH dah tah-VOH-lah) IGT (Indicazione di Geografica Tipica) (een-dee-cah-zee-OH-nee dee Gee-OH-grah-fee-kah Tee-pee-KAH) Quality Wines produced in a specified region (QWpsr) DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) (day-no-mee-nah-tsee-OH-nee dee OH-ree-jheen con-troh-LA-tah) DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) (day-no-mee-nah-tsee-OH-nee dee OH-ree-jheen con-troh-LA-tah ee gahr-ahn-TEE-tah) Ring a bell? These categories follow the European Union structure of “Table” wine and “QWpsr” wines which are based on the French AOC system of structuring. Instead of pronouncing the long ass names of each, most people just use the abbreviations, VdT, IGT, DOC and DOCG. For this lesson, I will too. As [...]

Sacrebleu, A French Wine Label!

How To Read A French Wine Label My friend, Gerard, is French. He’s been in the U.S. for over thirty years now. But his accent is as thick as it was when he moved here, to the point that when I don’t see him for some time I can’t understand him. One thing I can understand is his love for a good Bourgogne, being that he is from Dijon. In case that is all French to you, Bourgogne is the same as Burgundy, which is famous for both its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Gerard doesn’t say sacrebleu, though. He merely looks at me like I’m an idiot when I say it. Reading a Bourgogne label or any French wine label can be difficult and confusing what with the varying regulations and restrictions per wine region. I’m going to go through each major wine region of France and show you what information you can gleam from a French wine label. Here’s the link discussing Old World Wine Labels if you missed it. And here’s a nice vid on the subject: And here’s the link to How To Read A New World Wine Label. From our discussion on Old World wine labels [...]

How To Read A Wine Label: The Old World

Learn How To Read An Old World Wine Label When I refer to Old World wines, I mean wines made in the European wine regions of France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal and any wine regions along the Mediterranean. This is a misnomer of sorts on my part because usually when one cites Old World, they are referring to the production style of the wine. But for the basics of wine label reading, I’ll be using Old World to describe region. It just makes it easier. You can shove a pencil in the eye of the snob who disagrees. Old World wine labels are tricky as each country has its own hierarchy of restrictions and guidelines for labeling. Being that it’s a lengthy topic, I’m going to break it up into several posts and cover each Old World wine region separately. If you want to get to the meat of the matter, you can jump to each label below: French wine labels Italian wine labels German wine labels Here’s the link to How To Read A New World Wine Label if you missed it. There’s quite a difference between the two regions where wine labels are concerned. New World wines, like [...]