Basically Wine Labels
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In my quest to learn more about wine, I discovered that the lables on wine bottles aren’t just stuck on to make the bottle look pretty! Not at all. Apparently we can learn a lot about the bottle we’re about to buy if we just know what to look for – so what do we look for then? I now know that we’d start by looking at the name on the bottle to prevent ourselves from repeating horrible mistakes of the past, to see whether we’d like to try something new or stick to something trusted. Then we start looking at the clues, cleverly hidden in plain view for everyone that knows what to look for.
Now, since most of us have neither the time nor the inclination to go on one of these clever courses, here are a few tips to make reading lables fun. Unless we’re talking about promotional wine bottles, the lables usually contain the following:
The name of the wine and the cultivar from which it was made:
This is important because it tells you whether it’s a single cultivar (like Chardonnay), a blend (like Roodeberg ) or whether it’s red or white wine;
Producer and region:
This is important because it tells you whether the wine is made in eg. Stellenbosch, Franshchoek or Paarl when you have to choose a wine from three different estates and each one is in a different place. Once you know, you can take into account the climate because that gives each wine a unique character.
The vintage
This is important because you’ll find out how old the wine is and it allows you to differentiate between good and bad harvests and when the wine should be drunk;
Alcohol percentage
This gives you the weight of the wine and this is important when it comes to food pairing. It seems logical to choose a wine with a slightly higher alcohol level with a richer dish to “cut” the richness – this is all it means.
Sulphur
This is rather perplexing and I’d be thrilled if someone could explain to us how a wine can be completely free of sulphur. The sulphur is used to preserve the wine, help to mature it and prevent oxidization but is it possible that there is absolutely no sulphur in organic wines? White wines contain more sulphur than red wines;
Private Selection and Reserve
These words are usually found on bottles that cost a lot. It’s quite handy because it will tell you whether it comes from a really good harvest and whilst usually good (because those winemakers really do know their stuff) you should try this for yourself and draw your own conclusions;
