How do you choose a bottle of wine? Do you look for a label you know? The one that looks most appealing? The funky one? Do you stop to read about the wine?
Many choose wine based on what the label looks like rather than understanding about the wine in the bottle.
'Did you know that you research shows you are more likely to buy a wine with an animal or bird on the label'
Wine labels are all very different and can give you a variety of information, but it's not always clear what is what. So let's break it down.
Different countries, different rules. EU and non- EU countries take very different approaches. Below is an example of one from the EU.
What is tells us-
Region (Saint Emilion) and sub region (Monotagne)
It is following the rules of the area (appellation controlee)
It is a grand wine of Bordeaux
It is product of France
The year it was picked/made (2020)
Labels from outside of the EU don't always tend to tell us if the wine is from a controlled area and the information tends to be less fussy.
However- what do you really want to know? Take the label above, it focuses on the area because there is an expection you should know what grapes are grown in the area, but why would you? Firstly, I encourage you to turn the bottle around and have a read of the back. A good brand will give you some tasting notes, flavours of the wine and a little bit of history of the wine.
There are some good apps out there now to support wine information. I recommend Vinino and WineSearcher . These apps allow you to search the wine giving you clear and useful information on the wine. You can also rate wines.
So how can brand's make wine labels more accessible? Below is a great example from Benguela Cove. The information on the back helps people on all levels to understand more about the wine. My favourite section 'peak drinking', A question I have been asked lot over the years 'How long should I keep it?' /' How do I know when to drink it?'
You can also you will see a QR code. Scan it gives you access to so much more, tasting notes, food pairings (and recipes!) and videos from the winemaker. Using a QR code on a label really means the brand can share so much more information in different formats to help support people with preferences.
So next time you are looking at bottles why not take a bit of time to read up about them to find something new to try (and don't get distracted by pretty labels!)
Thanks for reading and as always please reach out if you would like more support.
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