How to read a wine label

A wine label packs a lot of facts into a small space, and bottles from very different countries print largely the same ones. Once you know where to look and what the common words mean, a label tells you where the wine comes from, often the grape, how sweet it is and the year of the harvest.

The front and the back

The front label usually has the name of the wine, its origin and the vintage. The back label carries the legal details and sometimes a short description. Read both: what is missing on one side is often printed on the other.

Origin and appellation

The origin is where the grapes were grown: a country, a region or a small named area. Rioja, Chablis, Mosel and Champagne are all places that appear on labels by name. In the US, a few older brands may still print names such as Champagne or Chablis on wine made elsewhere, so read the origin line as well.

Many of these names are protected. A protected name means the wine follows the written rules of its place, such as which grapes and methods are allowed. These marks are abbreviations, and their language changes with the country:

• AOC or AOP in France. The European Union's protected designation of origin is printed in the local language: AOP in French, DOP in Italian and Spanish, g.U. in German.
• DOC or DOCG in Italy.
• DO or DOCa in Spain.
• IGP or IGT for wines from a wider area with looser rules.
• Qualitätswein in Germany and Austria.

Such a mark tells you how the wine is regulated, not how it tastes. Treat it as one more fact, not a verdict.

The grape

A single-variety label names one grape, and the wine is mostly or entirely made from it; the exact share depends on local law. A blend names several grapes or none. Many European labels give the place and leave the grape out, so to find out which grape you like, look up what that place allows.

Sweetness on still wine

Sweetness runs from dry to sweet, and every language has its own words. For dry you may see Dry, Sec, Trocken, Secco or Seco. In the middle sit Off-dry or Medium, Halbtrocken, Abboccato or Semi-seco. On German wines, Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese describe how ripe the grapes were, not how dry the wine is; a Spätlese is often sweet unless it says Trocken. Sweet wines say Sweet, Doux, Dolce, Dulce or Süß.

Not every still wine states its sweetness. If it matters to you, check the back label or ask in the shop.

Sweetness on sparkling wine

Sparkling wine has its own scale, the dosage terms. They are printed in French or English on bottles from many countries, and you should read them exactly as printed. From driest to sweetest:

1. Brut Nature: the driest level.
2. Extra Brut: very dry.
3. Brut: dry, and very common.
4. Extra Dry: sweeter than Brut, despite the name.
5. Sec: sweeter again; on a sparkling wine it does not mean what it means on a still one.
6. Demi-Sec: clearly sweet.
7. Doux: the sweetest level.

Remember the two traps: Extra Dry is sweeter than Brut, and Sec is not dry on a sparkling wine.

Vintage and NV

A four-digit year is the vintage, the year the grapes were harvested. NV means non-vintage: the wine blends more than one harvest, which is normal for sparkling wine and usually deliberate. Many everyday still wines carry no year, which is normal for blends; on a more expensive bottle it is worth asking.

The legal small print

In many markets, including the UK, the US and the European Union, a label must show the alcohol content, the bottle volume, the bottler or importer and the country of origin, and must declare allergens such as sulphites (sulfites on US labels, as “Contains Sulfites”). Read these on the bottle itself; this guide quotes no values, because they differ from bottle to bottle.

When an app reads it for you

Easy Wine App, an AI sommelier for iPhone, reads these words from a photo of a shelf and ranks the wines against your taste and budget. It can be wrong, so check alcohol content, allergens and origin on the bottle. To see how these facts help you narrow down a shelf, read “How to choose a wine in a shop”.